 "Roystonea" is placed in the subfamily Arecoideae and the tribe Roystoneeae.The placement "Roystonea" within the Arecoideae is uncertain; a phylogeny based on plastid DNA failed to resolve the position of the genus within the Arecoideae.As of 2008, there appear to be no molecular phylogenetic studies of "Roystonea" and the relationship between "R. dunlapiana" and the rest of the genus is uncertain.