Order Arecales

Order Arecales

The only family in Order Arecales is the Palm Family, known as Arecaceae or Palmae. Palm trees grow in tropical and sub-tropical parts of Asia and America and to a lesser extent in Africa. They are widely used by people for food, oils, building materials, fuel and many household items. Palms have a long fossil record, dating back 80 million years and they were widespread by 60 million years ago. Because they are large and hard for a botanist to "collect", an American plant-collector described them as "the big game of the plant world". [CH] {EN}