The Ceroxyloideae are a subfamily of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the

palm Palm most commonly refers to: * Palm of the hand, the central region of the front of the hand * Palm plants, of family Arecaceae **List of Arecaceae genera * Several other plants known as "palm" Palm or Palms may also refer to: Music * Palm (ba ...

family found mainly in the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

with an outlying genus in each of Australia,

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, and the Comoros. Recently revised, the former subfamily Phytelephantoideae was reduced to the tribal level and included, while the Hyophorbeae tribe was reassigned to Arecoideae; it now contains eight genera.

Description

From small to moderate to the tallest in the family, the trunks may be solitary or clustering and lack armament. The reduplicate

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

is regularly or irregularly pinnate, bifid, or entire with pinnate ribs;

crownshaft An elongated circumferential leaf base formation present on some species of palm is called a crownshaft. The leaf bases of some pinnate leaved palms (most notable being ''Roystonea regia'' or the royal palm but also including the genera ''Areca' ...

s are present in some members and absent in others. Monoecious, dioecious, and hermaphroditic palms occur in the group; a protective prophyll accompanies the

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

, and all feature peduncular bracts. Any unisexual flowers are slightly dimorphic, solitary, or in rows; all have syncarpous, triovulate gynoecium.Riffle, Robert L. and Craft, Paul (2003) ''An Encyclopedia of Cultivated Palms''. Portland: Timber Press. / Uhl, Natalie W. and Dransfield, John (1987) ''Genera Palmarum - A classification of palms based on the work of Harold E. Moore''. Lawrence, Kansas: Allen Press. /

Tribes

Ceroxyleae

Four widely spread genera occur in South America, Australia, and

, characterized by tall, rarely slender, trunks which lack crownshafts. The flowers are early-opening, solitary, spirally or subdistichously arranged, with small bracts.

Cyclospatheae

A monotypic tribe from North America, North and Central America, they have moderately sized, erect trunks, with crownshafts. The flowers are solitary, spirally arranged, Hermaphrodite, hermaphroditic, and borne in the axils of small bracts.

Phytelepheae

Three dioecious South American palms, with moderate to large, acaulescent or erect trunks, their staminate inflorescences are spike-like, while the pistillate are branched and spreading. The fruit is usually borne in dense clusters, each containing five to 10 seeds.

References

External links

Ceroxyloideae on NPGS/GRIN
{{Taxonbar, from=Q141970 Ceroxyloideae, Commelinid subfamilies Taxa named by Carl Georg Oscar Drude