Geonoma is a genus of small to medium-sized palms native to the forest understorey of tropical Central and South America.

[1] Its 64 species are distributed from Mexico and Haiti in the north to Paraguay in the south; two are found in the Lesser Antilles.

[3] The genus is a member of the palm tribe Geonomateae (Arecaceae: Arecoideae), an important Neotropical group due to its wide distribution across Central and South America, its diversity and abundance, and the use of a number of species by local human populations.

[5] This tribe consists of a group of understory and sub-canopy palms that populate both tropical lowland and montane forests.

[6][7] The resolution of the tribe has been disputed despite the fact that Geonomateae species are characterized by three morphological synapomorphies: the petals of pistillate flowers are basally connate, the presence of slender and elongate styles, and the flowers are borne in pits in the rachillae.