List of Palms of The Caribbean

The palm tree is often seen as symbolically important in the Caribbean, appearing on the coats of arms of several Caribbean nations and on the flag of the West Indies cricket team. This list consists of palms which are native to the insular Caribbean (including the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands). Morici (2004) reported that there are about 191 genera and 2339 species in the Arecaceae (the palm family). Their distribution is biased toward islands - 36% of genera and 52% of species are found only on islands, while 32% of genera and 6% of species are found only on continents. Sixty-two percent of monotypic genera are found only on islands.

Phytogeographically, the Caribbean region is often considered to include the coastal plains of the United States (including south Florida), Mexico (especially the Yucatan), Belize, Colombia and Venezuela. Most species either have a wide distribution which includes part of the Caribbean, or are endemic to the Greater Antilles. Cuba has the most species of palms, followed by Hispaniola. The Windwards and Leewards have the fewest. The palm flora of Trinidad and Tobago consists primarily of species with a South American distribution. Three genera of palms are endemic to the Greater Antilles - Calyptronoma, Hemithrinax and Zombia. Although nearly ubiquitous in the region, the Coconut (Cocos nucifera) is not native to the Caribbean.

Nomenclature follows the Arecaceae section of the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families.

Contents:
  • 1 Genera
  • 1.1 Acoelorrhaphe
  • 1.2 Acrocomia
  • 1.3 Aiphanes
  • 1.4 Astrocaryum
  • 1.5 Attalea
  • 1.6 Bactris
  • 1.7 Calyptronoma
  • 1.8 Coccothrinax
  • 1.9 Colpothrinax
  • 1.10 Copernicia
  • 1.11 Desmoncus
  • 1.12 Euterpe
  • 1.13 Gaussia
  • 1.14 Geonoma
  • 1.15 Hemithrinax
  • 1.16 Leucothrinax
  • 1.17 Manicaria
  • 1.18 Mauritia
  • 1.19 Oenocarpus
  • 1.20 Prestoea
  • 1.21 Pseudophoenix
  • 1.22 Reinhardtia
  • 1.23 Roystonea
  • 1.24 Sabal
  • 1.25 Syagrus
  • 1.26 Thrinax
  • 1.27 Zombia
  • 2 See also
  • 3 References

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