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Stems solitary or clustered, erect or ascending [subterranean], slender to massive, often clothed in old leaf bases. Leaves: sheath fibers soft; petiole not split at base, armed, base not split, not forming crownshaft; blade pinnate; plication induplicate; segments lanceolate, in 1 or more planes; apices acute; basal segments modified into stout spines. Inflorescences axillary within crown of leaves, paniculate, ascending, much shorter than leaves, with 1 order of branching, alike in staminate and pistillate plants; prophyll often caducous, conspicuous, becoming boat-shaped, short; peduncular bracts absent; rachillae glabrous. Staminate flowers borne singly along rachillae; calyx cupulate, 3-lobed; petals 3, free, valvate; stamens 6, free; pistillode inconspicuous or absent. Pistillate flowers borne singly on rachillae; calyx cupulate, 3-lobed; petals 3, imbricate, free; staminodial ring cupulate or deeply 6-lobed; pistils 3 (only 1 developing), distinct; stigmas small. Fruits drupes, berrylike, fleshy; exocarp blackish brown, smooth; mesocarp fleshy or fibrous; endocarp papery. Seeds 1, elongate; endosperm homogeneous; embryo lateral [basal]; eophyll undivided, lanceolate. xn = 18.
Shrubby to tall, solitary or clustering, pleonanthic, dioecious armed palms. Stems acaulescent (not in Australia) or erect. Leaves imparipinnate; leaf sheath fibrous, persistent on trunk. Pinnae induplicate, held in 1 or more planes (not in Australia), acute, with proximal pinnae modified as acanthophylls. Inflorescence interfoliar, branched to 1 order; peduncular bracts rudimentary or absent; peduncle short or long; rachillae arranged spirally; rachis bracts present, attached at base of rachillae. Flowers solitary, spirally arranged. Staminate flower asymmetric; sepals cupular; petals valvate; stamens 6, epipetalous; filaments short; anthers elongate; pistillode absent. Pistillate flower globular; sepals cupular; petals imbricate; staminodes 6; carpels 3; ovule anatropous. Fruit ovoid to ellipsoidal to oblong; stigmatic remains apical; epicarp smooth; mesocarp thick or thin, fleshy; endocarp membranous. Seed elongate, laterally grooved; hilum basal; endosperm homogeneous or ruminate (not in Australia) with seed coat intruded; embryo lateral or basal (not in Australia).
Stems solitary or clustered, short and subterranean to large and aerial, usually rough with very close nodes, often covered with persistent leaf bases. Leaves 8-50, pinnate; leaf sheaths open; pinnae induplicate, regularly or irregularly arranged and then spreading in different planes, at base of leaf modified into short, stout, sharp spines (acanthophylls). Plants dioecious. Inflorescences usually branched to 1 order, borne among leaves; peduncle bearing a prophyll, other bracts much reduced; rachillae often borne in groups or spirals along inflorescence rachis; flowers small, simple, unisexual; male flowers with 6(-9) stamens. Fruits variously colored black or brown, obovoid, oblong, or ellipsoid, usually 1-seeded; mesocarp fleshy, thick and sweet tasting in date palm but thin and bitter in other species; endosperm homogeneous, rarely ruminate; germination remote; eophylls undivided.
Tall trees or low shrubs; dioecious. Leaves pinnate, with numerous lanceolate or ensiform segments, induplicately inserted on axis (V-shaped in T.S.); lower segments often modified into spines. Inflorescence a branched panicle borne among the leaves, usually several together, erect or becoming pendulous in fruit; spathe solitary, coriaceous. Flowers small, yellowish, coriaceous. Berry 1-seeded, mesocarp fleshy, endocarp thin. Spp. c. 16, of tropical regions of the Old World. Adventive sp. 1.
