Aiphanes minima (Gaertn.) Burret

  • Authority

    Borchsenius, Finn & Bernal-González, Rodrigo. 1996. Aiphanes (Palmae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 70: 1-94. (Published by NYBG Press)

  • Family

    Arecaceae

  • Scientific Name

    Aiphanes minima (Gaertn.) Burret

  • Type

    Type. Hermann s.n. (holotype, TUB, a single endocarp in the seed collection of J. Gaertner).

  • Synonyms

    Bactris minima Gaertn., Bactris acanthophylla, Martinezia acanthophylla Mart. & Becc., Aiphanes acanthophylla (Mart.) Burret, Bactris erosa Mart., Martinezia corallina Mart., Aiphanes corallina (Mart.) H.Wendl., Curima corallina (Mart.) O.F.Cook, Martinezia erosa Linden, Aiphanes erosa (Mart.) Burret, Curima colophylla O.F.Cook, Aiphanes luciana L.H.Bailey, Aiphanes vincentiana L.H.Bailey

  • Description

    Species Description - Solitary. Stem (2-)5-18 m tall, 6-20 cm diam., armed on the internodes with rings of black, flattened spines, often becoming almost unarmed with age. Leaves 10-20, spreading; petiole 15-110 cm long, armed with black, to 8 cm long spines; rachis 130-400 cm long, unarmed or with many black spines, to 6 cm long; pinnae 18-34 per side, regularly inserted, 4-10 cm apart, all in one plane, linear, or more rarely (Puerto Rico) widening at apex, 5-12 times as long as wide, obliquely praemorse to lobulate-praemorse at apex, ± caudate on the distal margin, glabrous on both sides, abaxially unarmed, or with many black spines, to 3 cm long, adaxially often with a row of ca. 1 cm long spines on the midrib; basal pinnae 24-26 x 1-2 cm; middle pinnae 31-80 x 4-11 cm; apical pinnae 2-to several-ribbed, 25-34 x 9-22 cm. Inflorescence interfoliar, curving, once or rarely twice branched; peduncular bract 60-190 cm long, 1.5-8 cm wide, coriaceous to woody, unarmed or densely spiny, with a grey or white, caducous indument; peduncle 28-130 cm long, 3-22 mm diam. at junction with rachis, densely covered with black spines; rachis 25-150 cm long, unarmed; rachillae 12-300, with a peltate indument, often becoming glabrous; basal rachillae 10-50 cm long, with triads for ca. ½ of their length, in this part 2-4 mm diameter, distally staminate, tapering to 1-2 mm diam.; apical rachillae 5-15 cm long, staminate; triads borne superficially or in a shallow cavity in the rachilla; dyads superficial. Staminate flowers creamish white to yellow, 3-4 mm long; sepals triangular, carinate, much shorter than the petals, 0.6-3.5 mm long; petals nearly free oblong-acuminate, elongate, 3.4-6.1 mm long; filaments flattened, 0.9-1.8 mm long, anthers linear, sagittate at base, with dark connective, 1.8-2.4 x 0.5-0.9 mm; pistillode distinct, trifid, 0.4-1 mm high. Pistillate flowers creamish white to yellow, 3-4 mm long; sepals broadly ovate, free, imbricate, 1.2-1.8 mm long; petals ovate-acute, connate for ½ of their length, valvate distally, 3.3-3.8 mm long; staminodial cup 1.2-2.5 mm high, deeply acutely lobed to nearly truncate; pistil 2.8-3 mm high, glabrous. Fruits red, 12-16 x 14-17 mm; mesocarp mealy-fleshy; endocarp 8-12 x 10-16 mm, weakly to prominently pitted-grooved.

  • Discussion

    The seed is edible; fruits are boiled and cracked open with a hammer (S. Carrington, pers. comm.).

    Aiphanes minima is easily distinguished by its large, solitary stem, and large leaves with regularly inserted, linear or nearly linear pinnae, held in one plane. It is closely related to A. aculeata, which differs in its cuneate, abruptly widening, grouped pinnae that are borne in different planes. One cultivated specimen (Kew Acc 533-58.53301) has bicuspidate pinnae that widen abruptly at the relatively wide apex, and is perhaps a hybrid between A. minima and A. aculeata; the two species are commonly planted together in botanical gardens.

    Taxonomy of the West Indian species has been confused, and several names have been in use. As treated here, the group consists of a single variable species, A. minima. This treatment is consistent with the pattern of variability observed in other species. In the latest complete treatment of Aiphanes in the West Indies, Bailey (1949) recognized five species here treated as one: A. acanthophylla in Puerto Rico, A. vincentiana in St. Vincent, A. luciana in St. Lucia, A. erosa in Barbados, and A. minima ascribed to Martinique. The key characters for separating these were inflorescence size, armature of pinnae and peduncular bract, shape of pinnae (whether with parallel margins or widening at apex), and pitting of the endocarp. Armature and pinna shape are variable characters, and comparison of the specimens available from the different islands show no differences that could justify the recognition of more than one species. Careful examination of endocarps from fruiting specimens on all islands show a gradual variation from nearly smooth to prominently pitted and grooved, and separation of species based on this character would be impossible. Specimens with long, slender peduncle and few rachillae, corresponding to A. luciana Bailey, are known from the understory of dense rain forest in the interior of Dominica, St. Lucia, and Martinique, at altitudes between 300 and 700 m. They show a continuous variation from 12 to 85 rachillae, and the largest inflorescences thus approach those typical for the species in other areas (100-320 rachillae), including parts of Dominica (Ernst 1701), and Martinique (A. corallina Martius). Variation in size of inflorescence is commonly observed in the genus, often in correlation with differences in habitat and altitude, and in the absence of other differences between A. minima and A. luciana, the latter has been included in synonymy.

    The name Bactris minima was based on a single endocarp sent to Joeseph Gaertner by the collector Hermann, without any indication of the origin. The type shows a perfect resemblance with endocarps of specimens collected on St. Vincent, including the type of A. vincentiana Bailey.

    The original description of Martinezia erosa Linden is a very brief description of a juvenile plant, just sufficient to place the name in the genus Aiphanes with certainty. No type was designated, and only the Antilles was cited as place of origin, without further detail. In a later catalogue, Linden (1881) ascribed M. erosa (“eroza”) to Martinique. A specimen collected by Patin in Horto Lindeniano in 1871, and annotated Martinezia erosa, has here been designated as lectotype. Certainly this specimen, which includes three endocarps and foliage from a young plant, must represent Linden’s Martinezia erosa. Burret (1932b) transferred M. erosa to Aiphanes and provided a full description based on a specimen from Turners Hall Woods, Barbados (Eggers 7125). Though Burret actually did not typify the name, as pointed out by Read (1979), this specimen has been cited as type of A. erosa (Glassmann, 1972), and the name Aiphanes erosa has been used since for Barbadan populations of A. minima.

    Aiphanes minima undoubtedly includes several geographically or ecologically separated races, but until more substantial information about inter- and intra-populational variation and ecology becomes available, it hardly serves any purpose to recognize more than one taxon. Possible future division in subspecific taxa will, by the way, inevitably lead to serious problems of typification, since it will most likely be impossible to assign the single endocarp that constitutes the type of A. minima to any one of these. A similar, but less serious, problem will arise with the type of A. erosa.

    Distribution and Ecology: Widely distributed in the Lesser Antilles: Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Dominica, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Martinique, Barbados, and Grenada. Also a widely cultivated ornamental palm. Aiphanes minima grows in different habitats. In the northern part of its range (Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico) it is found on limestone hills; in the southern part (Dominica, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Barbados) it grows in subcanopy or understory of seasonal to wet forest, sometimes in deep shade.

  • Common Names

    Grigri, chou picant, glouglou, glouglou rouge, palma de coyor, coyore, coyure, coyora, macaw palm

  • Distribution

    Dominican Republic South America| La Vega Dominican Republic South America| Puerto Rico South America| Dominica South America| Martinique South America| Saint Lucia South America| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines South America| Barbados South America| Belgium Europe| Brazil South America| Guyana South America| Sri Lanka Cuba South America| England Europe| Germany Europe| Guadeloupe South America| Indonesia Asia| Java Indonesia Asia| Sumatra Indonesia Asia| Jamaica South America| Martinique South America| Panama Central America| Singapore Asia| Trinidad and Tobago South America| United States of America North America| Venezuela South America|