Almost all species of this family are confined to the frost-free zone between latitudes 30° N and 30° S. The flora of West Africa is small, with only 12 genera of indigenous palms; of these only Elaeis and Raphia also have New World species. The palms are, however, important ecologically in West Africa, second only to grasses in economic importance, as well as being prominent by reason of habit.

West African palms are trees or climbers (rattans), all woody and of relatively large dimensions. Species of Calamus and Raphia provide the largest known climber and leaf, respectively, other genera providing the largest inflorescence and fruit.

Palms lack secondary thickening and depend on the extensive deposition of lignin in existing primary tissue for their rigidity, and on the production of a mass of adventitious roots from the lower nodes to provide increased support and water supply as the stem grows.

Growth is monopodial, infloresences being axillary, and most West African genera show pleonanthic growth, i.e. the stems grow indefinitely and flower repeatedly. There is a small group of genera (Ancistrophyllum, Oncocalamus and Raphia) in which the stems flower only once (hapaxanthic growth), the equivalent (in effect) of the sympodial growth of most other monocotyledons. These short-lived aerial shoots are replaced by suckers growing from the base of the plant (also seen in Calamus and Phoenix), but in Nypa, the infloresence is terminal on one of the dichotomies of the rhizome, the leafy shoot being produced separately. Hyphaene shows dichotomous branching.