The Kew Temperate Plant Families Identification Handbook.

Gemma Bramley, Anna Trias-Blasi & Richard Wilford (2023).

Kew Publishing Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

Description Author – William J. Baker

Recognition

Characters of similar families: Pandanaceae: linear leaves, flowers complex and not usually trimerous, fruit in heads. Cyclanthaceae: leaves not developing from an initially entire lamina. Asparagaceae (for example, arborescent Yucca, Cordyline, Dasylirion and Dracaena): linear leaves, not compound or plicate. Musaceae: non-woody pseudostems arising from corms, leaf entire. Cycadaceae: cone-bearing, compound leaves not developing from an initially entire lamina.

Morphology > General > Habit

Massive to minute woody monocotyledonous plants; trees, shrubs or climbers, sometimes spiny

Morphology > Stem

Stems clustered or solitary, erect, creeping or climbing, often massive, sometimes very short and/or subterranean, usually marked with leaf scars, sometimes dying after flowering, aerial stems usually unbranched

Morphology > Leaves > Leaf > lamina

Lamina almost always conspicuously folded

Morphology > Leaves

Leaf bases always tubular and sheathing (at least in the bud), often forming a conspicuous tubular crownshaft Leaves compound, less frequently entire; compound leaves derived by splitting of an initially entire lamina, pinnate, bipinnate or palmate

Morphology > Reproductive > morphology > Inflorescences

Inflorescences always lateral, often massive, spicate to paniculate, sometimes aggregated in a mass of inflorescences held above the leaves, resulting in the death of the stem

Morphology > Reproductive > morphology > Flowers

Flowers bisexual or unisexual (monoecious or dioecious); calyx or corolla usually comprising 3 free or fused sepals or petals, often inconspicuous, but some colourful and enlarged; ovary always superior, always no more than one ovule per carpel

Morphology > Reproductive > morphology > Fruits

Fruit a berry or drupe; minute to massive, usually 1–3-seeded, often brightly coloured, sometimes scaly or spiny.

Distribution

181 genera, c. 2,600 species. Primarily tropical and subtropical, especially in humid forests, but reaching temperate climates at their northern (southern France) and southern (Chatham Islands) limits. Also reaching high elevations in the tropics (up to 3,600 m in the Andes).

Note

Woody monocot trees, shrubs or climbers. Leaves usually compound, palmate, pinnate or rarely bipinnate, blade plicate, splitting along folds. Leaf bases tubular, usually sheathing. Inflorescences lateral. Fruit a berry or drupe.