Abstract
Although palms are very conspicuous when they occur in arid and semi-arid areas, the scientific literature concerned with better utilization and development of plant resources of such areas pays relatively limited attention to the Palmae. Even among the numerous articles and books which focus on irrigated agriculture, palms are seldom among the crops discussed. This apparent neglect may be explainable, in part, by two related factors. First, palms are not true xerophytes and could not survive in most arid or semi-arid areas were it not for the presence of underground water sources. Secondly, because the palms exhibit a scattered and highly variable distribution, and form atypical vegetation associations when they do occur, they are unrelated to the characteristic climatic climax vegetation formations. It is anticipated that the forthcoming volume on hot desert and arid shrubland in the ‘Ecosystems of the World’ series will contribute to a better understanding of the overall role of palms. They are already dealt with quite effectively in the recently-published volume on tropical savannas (Bourlière 1983).
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Johnson, D.V. (1985). Present and potential economic usages of palms in arid and semi-arid areas. In: Wickens, G.E., Goodin, J.R., Field, D.V. (eds) Plants for Arid Lands. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6830-4_14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-6830-4_14
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