Arecaceae

Arecaceae (Palmae), Bedřich Všemír von Berchtold & Jan Svatopluk Presl, 1820.
Palmiyegiller.
Arecaceae: Shrubs or trees with cylindrical, usually unbranched stems. Leaves large, persistent, petiolate, plicate, each with a conspicuous sheath. Inflorescence simple or branched (ultimate flower bearing ramifications termed spikes), enveloped by 1 or several spathes. Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual, hypogynous. Perianth imbricate, actinomorphic, of 3 sepals and 3 alternate petals, persistent in hermaphrodite and pistillate flowers. Stamens in 2 whorls of 3, very rarely 9. Ovary 3 or 1 carpellate by reduction, carpels free or united. Fruit succulent or mesocarp fibrous, 1 seeded.
1. Leaves pinnatisect 1. Phoenix
1. Leaves flabellate (palmatisect)
 2. Stem 12-25 m; leaves splitting into segments with marginal threads 3. Washingtonia
 2. Acaulescent shrubs or with stem to 12 m at most, leaves not splitting as above
  3. Stems absent or, if present, covered with greyish white fibres; seeds not ventrally grooved 3. Chamaerops
  3. Stem single, covered with blackihs brown fibres; seeds ventrally grooved 4. Trachycarpus