The palm family (Arecaceae) is one of the most ecologically important and economically valuable plant groups on Earth. Three scientific questions about palms will be answered: (1) What is the range of anatomical variation? Anatomy with emphasis on leaves will be described and documented for all 187 genera and about 500 species of palms. The results will be published as a new edition of the earlier 1961 volume in the Anatomy of the Monocotyledons series. The new observations will be based on material collected from three American tropical botanic gardens with cultivated and readily accessible palms. This domestic resource avoids the difficult if not impossible task of collecting in many tropical countries due to local government restrictions. (2) How useful is anatomy in palm systematics? The new edition will provide anatomical characterizations including photographic plates. Information will be distilled as an interactive key with glossary and images and be widely accessible on the World Wide Web. Palm material and economic products will be identifiable to genus and in many cases species. Researchers in tropical biology and agriculture will refer to it. (3) What is the phylogenetic significance of anatomical characters? The palms are a distinctive and natural plant group in which molecular evidence for evolutionary relationships has not been related to morphology and anatomy. Anatomical data will be scored for cladistic analyses to help clarify palm systematics. Hypotheses about anatomical character evolution will be compared to molecular trees (now being determined in other cooperating labs) for congruence. Broader scientific significance and societal benefits: The proposed book and website will document and disseminate the improved understanding of palm structure and classification. New evolutionary hypotheses based on molecular data will be evaluated against the new structural data. Structural features can also be related to palm ecology. Palms are of global economic importance and of local value in the culture and life of tropical peoples. They serve as icons in the teaching of tropical botany. The anatomical compendium and website will assist in identification of palms for non-botanists (in ecology, archaeology, industry, agroforestry and forensic science) while providing a foundation for pathological and physiological studies. A postdoctoral fellow and graduate student will be trained; interpretive and educational materials will be distributed by the Fairchild Challenge Network to 30,000 U.S. school children, and globally, through botanic gardens with palm collections, partners in the IUCN Palm Specialist Group, the Global Trees Campaign, and the Global Palm Conservation Assessment. At Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, research results will be added to interpretive signs and tours presented to school children, teachers and the general public who visit the Garden.
