Phoenix L., Sp. Pl. 2. 1188. 1753; Gen. Pl. 5: 496. 1754; Boiss., Fl. Or. 5: 47. 1884; Brandis, For. Fl. 552. 1874; Becc. & Hook. f. in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. Ind. 6: 424. 1894; Brandis, Ind. Trees 644. 1906; Talbot, For. Fl. Pres. Bomb. 547. 1911; Mahabale & Parthasarathy, J. Bomb. Nat. Hist. Soc. 60(2): 371-387. 1963; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1: 528. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Fl. China @ eFloras.org 23: 143; Fl. North Amer. @ eFloras.org 22: 110; Malik, Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 20.

Low or tall, solitary or clump-forming, dioecious palms. Trunk stout, erect, +/- uniformly thickened, covered with bases of petioles, erect, usually unbranched. Leaves 8-50, forming a terminal crown, leaf sheaths open, not forming crown shaft, pinnate, pinnae numerous, regularly or irregularly arranged and then spreading in 1 or more planes, unequal, elongate, coriaceous, ensiform, lanceolate, induplicate (v-shaped in T.S.), longitudinally folded and attached with folded base to rachis, midrib 0 but a slender nerve on either side of fold, nerves longitudinal, parallel; proximal pinnae usually modified into sharp spines (acanthophylls). Inflorescences axillary within the crown of leaves, paniculate, much shorter than leaves, with 1 order of branching, alike in male and female plants; prophyll (bract of inflorescence) often caducous, conspicuous, boat-shaped, short, coriaceous; peduncular bracts (bracts between prophyll and floral bracts) absent. Other bracts very much reduced; rachillae often borne in groups or spirals along inflorescence rachis. Flowers unisexual, small, sessile on erect or drooping peduncle. Male Flowers: Oblong or ovoid. Calyx cupulate, 3-toothed, obliquely oblong or ovate. Petals 3, much longer than calyx, valvate, oblong. Stamens usually 6; filaments subulate, united at base; anthers erect. Female Flowers: Calyx cupulate, 3-toothed. Petals 3, rounded, imbricate, usually less than 2 times longer than calyx. Carpels 3, free with sessile stigmas; staminodes 6 or joined into a 6-lobed cup; one ovule in each carpel, only one maturing. Fruit 1-seeded berry, ovoid or oblong with a fleshy pericarp and a membranous endocarp. Seeds straight, ventrally grooved, endosperm homogeneous.

13 species

Phoenix roebelenii O’Brien, Gard. Chron., ser. 3, 6: 475. 1889; Fl. China @ eFloras.org 23: 144; Palmweb @ Plants of the World online.

Dioecious, small-sized palm. Stem clustered (solitary in cultivated plants), 1-3 m tall, up to 10 cm in diameter without sheaths, erect or twisted, rough with persistent, diamond-shaped leaf bases (with a central bump of remnant vascular tissue). Leaves arching, 1-1.5(-2) m long; pseudopetiole (or petiole) to 50 cm; leaf sheath reddish-brown, fibrous; acanthophylls arranged singly or in pairs, ca. 12 on each side of rachis, orange-green, up to 8(-11) cm long; leaflets (or pinnae) regularly arranged and spreading in same plane, 25-45 on each side of rachis, linear, concolorous, deep green, often flaccid, up to 35 cm x 1.2 cm; lamina with discontinuous white scurfy ramenta (persistent scales) on midrib, veins and surface on abaxial side. Male inflorescence pendulous, 30-60 cm long, peduncle flat, compressed, pale green, with up to 20 rachillae, rachillae 7-20 cm long; prophyll coriaceous, 2-keeled, splitting once abaxially between keels. Male Flowers: Calyx cupulate, 3-toothed, ca. 1.2 mm long, yellow-white. Petals 3, free, valvate, pale yellow-white with acuminate apices and margins +/- entire, 7-8 mm x 2-2.5 mm. Stamens 6; anthers 3.5-4 mm long. Pistillode absent. Female inflorescence erect, arching as fruit ripens, up to 44 cm long; prophyll coriaceous, 2-keeled, up to 35 cm x 4.5 cm, splitting once adaxially to several inflorescence; peduncle green, up to 30 cm x 2 cm, compressed; rachillae up to 35 in number, with bulbous bases, pale green. Female Flowers: Pale green, arranged singly in distal 3/4th part of rachillae, subtended by papery bracts, bracts caducous. Calyx cupulate, 3- toothed, thickened and ridged up to apices, striate, 2-2.5 mm long. Petals 3, 3.5-4 mm, with acute apices and jagged margin. Carpels 3, free, each carpel with one ovule, one carpel reaching maturity; stigma sessile, recurved. Fruit drupe, obovoid with persistent perianth, maturing from dark purple to purplish brown, 12-18 mm x 6-7 mm; stigmatic remains apical, ca. 1 mm long, orange-brown, often recurved. Seed narrowly elongate, terete, apex round, 7 mm x 3 mm, endosperm homogeneous.

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