Book excerpt: The palms are among the most abundant, diverse, and important families of plants found in the Amazon. Based on extensive field work, this book provides a systematic treatment of all palms that occur naturally in the Amazon region. Each species is exhaustively described with reviews of their distribution, habitat, and ecology. Introductory chapters describe the physical setting of the Amazon region as well as on the biogeography and ecology of the palm family. This first modern treatment of the 135 species of Amazon palms provides a definitive account of their ecology, uses, and biogeography. It will be welcomed by students, teachers, and researchers of botany, ecology, agronomy, and conservation biology.