Arecaceae

Arecaceae - Palm Family
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Liliopsida Order: Arecales Family: Arecaceae
Genera
Economically important genera Areca Arenga Attalia Bactris Borassus Cocos - coconut Copernicia - carnauba wax palm Elaeis Jessenia Orbignya Phoenix - date palm Rhapis Roystonea - royal palm Sabal - palmetto Salacca - salak Veitchia Wallichia Washingtonia Full List of Arecaceae Genera

Arecaceae (formerly Palmae or Palmaceae) is the Palm Family of flowering plants, belonging to the monocot order: Arecales. The type member of this family is the areca palm, the fruit of which is chewed with the betel leaf and often confused with it. Rattan and coconut also belong to this family.

Palm sap is sometimes fermented to produce palm wine.

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This entry incorporates text from Easton's Bible Dictionary, 1897, with some modernization.

Palm tree - (Heb. tamar), the date-palm characteristic of Palestine. It is described as "flourishing" (Ps. 92:12), tall (Cant. 7:7), "upright" (Jer. 10:5). Its branches are a symbol of victory (Rev. 7:9). "Rising with slender stem 40 or 50, at times even 80, feet aloft, its only branches, the feathery, snow-like, pale-green fronds from 6 to 12 feet long, bending from its top, the palm attracts the eye wherever it is seen." Tadmor in the desert was called by the Greeks and Romans Palmyra, i.e., "the city of palms." The finest specimens of this tree grew at Jericho (Deut. 34:3) and Engedi and along the banks of the Jordan. Branches of the palm tree were carried at the feast of Tabernacles (Lev. 23:40). At our Lord's triumphal entrance into Jerusalem the crowds took palm branches, and went forth to meet him, crying, "Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord" (Matt. 21:8; John 12:13). (See date.)

From Easton's Bible Dictionary (1897)