The characteristics of the palm community in Amazonian terra firme forests are defined from inventories carried out in the lower Tocantins (east), the lower Rio Negro (center), and the lower Ucayali (west) valleys. Most of the palms are small, understory species; the palm community is mainly <10 m in height, and adult arborescent palms occur at very low densities. Species richness and diversity are higher in the W and C forests. -from Authors