Arenga Eleven species are found in Indo Malaysia, except in Guinea, and in the Caroline and Christmas islands. The plants yield sugar, sago and fibre. There is a story of the capture of the town of Surabaya in 1545 A.D. by means of the artifice of throwing the pulped fruits of this palm with carcasses into the river which supplied drinking water to the inhabitants. The fruit is poisonous from the irritant needle-crystals in its tissues. Astrocaryum 50 species are found in tropical America.
Several species yield fibre and oil.
The genus includes a number of intensely spiny palms. He listed eight other species of the genus which have this property. The trunks possess long, flat, black, needle-like spines. Bactris Between 180 and 250 species have been described from America and the West Indies. He lists 35 other species of the genus having this property.