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BOTANY Higher Secondary Second Year - Textbooks Online

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1.3.8. ARECACEAE – the palm family<br />

Systematic position<br />

Class: Monocotyledonae<br />

Series: Calycinae<br />

Family: Arecaceae<br />

General characters<br />

Distribution<br />

Arecaceae is one of the largest families in monocotyledons. It includes<br />

about 217 genera and more than 2,500 species. The members of this<br />

family are distributed throughout the tropical regions of the world. In<br />

India, it is represented by about 25 genera and more than 225 species.<br />

Habit<br />

Mostly unbranched trees with arborescent stem having prominent<br />

scars of leaf bases and a crown of large leaves (eg. Cocos nucifera) or<br />

shrubs eg. Nipa fruticans has no aerial stem and leaves arise directly from<br />

the underground rhizome.<br />

Root<br />

Fibrous and adventitious root system.<br />

Stem<br />

Mostly aerial, erect, unbranched and columnar having prominent scars<br />

of leaf bases. Stem is short and stumpy in Phoenix acaulis. Internodes<br />

are usually short.<br />

Leaf<br />

Exstipulate, petiolate, petiole long and very strong with sheathing leaf<br />

base, palmately compound (eg. Borassus flabellifer) and usually in terminal<br />

clusters. Phyllotaxy is usually alternate spiral but scattered in Calamus.<br />

Venation is pinnately parallel (eg. Cocos nucifera) or palmately parallel<br />

divergent (eg. Borassus flabellifer).<br />

Inflorescence<br />

Large, usually lateral arising from the axils of leaves, spadix (eg.<br />

Phoenix sylvestris) or compound spadix (eg. Cocos nucifera) enclosed by<br />

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