Attalea (palm)
（重定向自Orbignya）
![Tall, single-stemmed palm standing alone in a field of grass with scattered shrubs and palms. The low hills in the background are forested. The leaves are all angled above horizontal, and are shorter than the stem. A single brownish-yellow infructescence is visible just below the leaves. The lower half of the stem is bare, but the upper half has old leaf-based still attached. Ferns and a strangler fig grow on the upper part of the stem just below the leaves, rooted in the old leaf bases.](/Images/godic/202501/31/Attalea_brasiliensis0955.jpg")
![Detail of the crown of Attalea maripa showing leaf arrangement and inflorescences.](/Images/godic/202501/31/Attalea_maripa_closeup0956.jpg")
![Attalea crassispatha, a Haitian endemic, is the most geographically isolated species in the genus.](/Images/godic/202501/31/Attalea_crassispatha0956.jpg")
![Male inflorescence of Attalea sp. swarming with insects.](/Images/godic/202501/31/Male_inflorescence_of_Attalea_sp0956.jpg")
Attalea is a large genus of palms native to Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America. This pinnately leaved, non-spiny genus includes both small palms lacking an aboveground stem and large trees. The genus has a complicated taxonomic history, and has often been split into four or five genera based on differences in the male flowers. Since the genera can only be distinguished on the basis of their male flowers, the existence of intermediate flower types and the existence of hybrids between different genera has been used as an argument for keeping them all in the same genus. This has been supported by a recent molecular phylogeny.