The Arecaceae (scientific name Arecaceae , Palmae synonymous ) are a family of monocots, the only family of the order Arecales (synonym Main ) . Normally they are known as palm trees or palms. This important family is easy to recognize. They are woody (but without secondary growth of the stem, primary only) plants. Despite being monocots many are arborescent , with large leaves in crown at the end of the stem , usually pinnate (pinnatisectas) or slaps (palmatisectas) . Its flowers have three sepals and three petals, arranged in inflorescences include one or more husks. The fruit is fleshy : a berry or a drupe . They are widely distributed in tropical to temperate regions, but mainly in warm regions.
The family was recognized by modern classification systems such as the APG III classification system (20092 ) and APWeb (2001 forward) , and traditionally was also recognized in other classification systems due to its distinctive morphological characters . In these classification systems are located in its own monotypic order Arecales in Commelinidae subclass.
Among the palms are economically important species and species of ornamental value, plus others such as coconut palm, date palm, rattan, carnauba wax, raffia, among others.
In the world they are known as typical tropical species, there are concentrations of them in countries like Madagascar. Colombia is the country with the greatest number of varieties, one of which is the national tree. In addition, there are several specialized botanical gardens and palm trees are often called palmetum . Some of these collections may be mentioned Palmetum Santa Cruz de Tenerife and the Palm of Elche in Spain, El Palmar National Park in Entre Rios, Argentina, and to a lesser extent, the Botanical Garden of Caracas, Venezuela, and National Botanic Garden of Havana in Cuba.