Hyphaene Gaertn.

The genus Hyphaene (apparently only 8 spp.) is distributed in dry regions of continental Africa, Madagascar, the Red Sea and the coasts of the Gulf of Eilat, Arabia and western India. One species reported from Sri Lanka may be an introduction (Dransfield et al., 2008). The genus Hyphaene is pleonanthic, dioecious and contains species with small to massive and tall, solitary or basally clustered, erect or creeping stems, costapalmate leaves and fruits conspicuously polymorphic. The presence of stem branching in some species of this genus represents a unique character with respect to other members of the palm family. These palms commonly grow in sandy lowlands, and open secondary forests or savannahs.