Evolutionary trends in the palmae with special reference to fossil plams

Abstract

The paper gives an account of the characters generally used in determining the relationships of living palms and their classification. It tries to evaluate the utility of such characters in the identification and phylogeny of fossil palms by citing suitable examples. Many morphological characters of palms are conservative and are helpful within a limited range: others are unhelpful, especially anatomical features of isolated parts of unknown identity. Therefore, in building up any classificatory system of fossil palms, all available characters of as many parts as are available should be utilized within the range of their variability. To achieve this purpose, they have to be studied in detail in the same or related genera of living palms and then correlate them with those in the fossil palms. Such a comprehensive method alone would be helpful in determining the phylogeny of fossil palms.