to genera previously included in Beccariophoenicinae and Butiinae by Uhl and Dransfield (1987). Zona (2002) established the still needed corresponding names in the Attalea sensu lato concept for the species treated by Glassman in other genera, so that the two concepts are now fully compatible. However, in order to do these transfers of genera, it was needed to disentangle particularly complex nomenclatural problems. This is exemplified by the case of the babaçu, one of the best known and economically most important species (Anderson et al., 1991).