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Why are palms classified as flowering plants rather than conifers?

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Tall giant sequoia trees with reddish bark and thick trunks rise closely together in a dense forest at Sequoia National Park, California. — Tree A stand of giant sequoia trees (*Sequoiadendron giganteum*) in Sequoia National Park, California.

Palms are classified as flowering plants (angiosperms) rather than conifers (gymnosperms) because of their fundamental reproductive structures and biological processes.123

The primary distinction lies in how these plants produce seeds:

Angiosperms (Palms): Palms produce seeds that are enclosed within an ovary, which typically ripens into a fruit. They also undergo a unique process called double fertilization, where one sperm fertilizes the egg and another fuses with nuclei to form endosperm, a nutrient-rich tissue that supports the developing embryo.123
Gymnosperms (Conifers): Conifers are "naked-seed" plants. Their seeds are not enclosed in an ovary but are instead exposed, often on the scales of a cone. They lack the double fertilization process and the specialized floral structures found in angiosperms.123

Additionally, palms belong to the monocotyledons (monocots), a major group of flowering plants, whereas conifers belong to a distinct evolutionary lineage of seed plants.425