Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Introduction
1.1 Palms: Taxonomy and Uses
Palms belong to the viriplante group of higher plants under the group angiosperms, the
closed-seed bearing plants. Angiosperm plants are further classified as monocot and
dicots, based on number of seed leaves as being either one or two. Palms are classified
as Arecaceae (palmae) botanical family, which is a single member of order Arecales
(
Table 1.1
). Palms are an important group of plants for various human-end uses, next
only to grasses and legumes. They are harvested from forests, cultivated as plantations
or orchards, or used in landscaping indoor and outdoor environments. No exact statis-
tical estimates specifiying the wide range of uses for the palms are available, making
it difficult to list important palms and their specific valuable products. But, palms are
used in a multitude of products such as food, wood, oil, fiber, and fuel. In fragile eco-
systems such as tropical islands, coconut palm is life sustaining to islanders, who use
it for food, oil, housing materials, and so on. Rattan is the major source of furniture,
next in importance to bamboo. Palm wine and sugar are principal commodities traded.
Coir, a fiber made from coconut, is used widely and traded around the world.
Palms grow in wide range of habitats, possess a wide range of traits, and serve
many uses. Coconut, dates, arecanut, and oil palm are the four major palms com-
mercially cultivated on large scale as orchards or plantations. Areas in which
palms are grown, production, and major producers of these crops
[1]
are listed in
Table 1.2
. Coconut, an important perennial crop of the humid tropics, is a multipur-
pose crop that serves as a source of food, edible oil, refreshing drink, fiber (coir),
Table 1.1
Taxonomy of Cultivated Palms
Kingdom
Viriplantae
Angisoperms
Monocotyledons
Order
Arecales
Family
Arecaceae
Subfamilies
Calamoideae
Nypoideae
Coryphoideae
Ceroxyloideae
Phytelephantoideae
Arecoideae
Tribes
13 tribes
Genera
Nearly 183
Species
Nearly 2450
