Arecaceae
Aiphanes

Aiphanes spicata Borchs. & R.Bernal

First published in Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 70: 78 (1996)
This species is accepted
The native range of this species is N. Peru. It is a subshrub and grows primarily in the wet tropical biome.

Descriptions

Extinction risk predictions for the world's flowering plants to support their conservation (2024). Bachman, S.P., Brown, M.J.M., Leão, T.C.C., Lughadha, E.N., Walker, B.E. https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.19592

Conservation
Predicted extinction risk: threatened. Confidence: confident
[AERP]

General Description
Solitary, acaulescent or with a horizontal, subterranean stem, to 30 cm long, 2-5 cm diam. Leaves 9-12, erect and arching; sheath 14-20 cm long, with numerous black spines, to 8 cm long; petiole 16-25 cm long, armed like sheath, but spines fewer; rachis 42-80 cm long, green, with a brown, caducous indument, unarmed or with scattered, black spines, to 5 cm long; pinnae 14-16 per side, nearly regularly inserted or in groups of 2-4, these occupying 3-7 cm along the rachis, separated by 9-11 cm, all pinnae more or less in one plane, strongly plicate, middle pinnae 17-22 x 1-2.5 cm, linear or narrowly cuneate, 10-18 times as long as wide, obliquely praemorse at apex, with an up to 2 cm long finger-like projection on the distal margin, both sides with scattered, peltate hairs and few minute spinules, margins lined with black spinules, ca. 1 mm long. Inflorescence interfoliar, erect, spicate; prophyll 14-16 cm long, ca. 1 cm wide; peduncular bract 30-50 cm long, 1-1.5 cm wide, thin, with minute, black spinules, soon disintegrating; peduncle 45-110 cm long, 3-4 mm diam. at apex, green, with a thin, brown, caducous indument, unarmed or covered with black, thin, to 3 cm long spines; spike 14-26 cm long, 5-8 mm diam., with a brown, caducous indument, covered with minute, black spinules, basal ? with triads, distally staminate; flower groups sunken into deep, elongate cavities in the spike, each subtended by a 3-4 mm long bract, covering the flower group before anthesis. Staminate flowers 3-4 mm long, 3-4 mm wide, yellow in center, with light green petals; sepals imbricate, carinate, covering the petals for ? of their length, 3-3.5 x 4-5 mm; petals free, valvate, 3.5-4 x 2.5-3 mm; filaments ca. 1 mm long, anthers 1.1-1.4 x 0.9-1.1 mm; pistillode minute, trifid; receptacle swollen, ca. 0.5 mm thick. Pistillate flowers (at anthesis) 4-5 mm long, ca. 4 mm wide, light greenish yellow; sepals imbricate, broadly ovate, shorter than the petals, enclosed in the floral pit, 2.5-3.5 x 4-5 mm; petals connate for ½ their length, valvate distally, 4-5 x 3-4 mm; staminodiaI cup truncate, 3-4 mm high; pistil ca. 4 mm high, 3 mm diam., glabrous. Fruits 10 mm long, 9 mm wide.
Distribution
Known only from two nearby localities in northeastern Peru, in Dictyocaryum lamarckianum-dominated montane forest at ca. 2000 m.
[PW]

Sources

  • Angiosperm Extinction Risk Predictions v1

    • Angiosperm Threat Predictions
    • http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone

    • The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants 2025. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and https://powo.science.kew.org/
    • © Copyright 2023 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Vascular Plants. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

  • Palmweb - Palms of the World Online

    • Palmweb 2011. Palmweb: Palms of the World Online. Published on the internet http://www.palmweb.org. Accessed on 21/04/2013
    • Content licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0