Most Phoenix species originate in semi-arid regions, but usually occur near high groundwater levels, rivers, or springs.

The generic name derives from φοῖνιξ (phoinix) or φοίνικος (phoinikos), the Greek word for the date palm used by Theophrastus and Pliny the Elder.

The leaves have short or absent petioles and possess the rare feature among pinnate palms of induplicate (V-shaped) leaflets.

Phoenix fruit develops from one carpel as a berry, 1–7 cm long, yellow to red-brown or dark purple when mature, with one elongated, deeply grooved seed.

The palms are found growing on a wide variety of soils, often extending to degraded forest margins in grasslands.

Many species of Phoenix produce vegetative offshoots called bulbils from basal portions of their stems which, on rooting, develop new saplings.

Palms are felled to extract this central ‘pith’ which is dried, powdered, stored and used for preparation of bread in the Indian subcontinent.

[citation needed] A large number of fossil woods with anatomical features resembling the genus Phoenix have been excavated from Deccan Intertrappean formation in India of Maastrichtian-Danian age (65-67 my).