Aiphanes tricuspidata Borchs., R.Bernal & M.Ruiz
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Authority
Borchsenius, Finn & Bernal-González, Rodrigo. 1996. Aiphanes (Palmae). Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 70: 1-94. (Published by NYBG Press)
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Family
Arecaceae
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Scientific Name
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Type
Type. ECUADOR. El Oro: rd. from Machala to Naranjal, km 33, 8 km E along dirt rd. leaving from Río Boníto, 380 m, 19 Nov 1987, Skov, Borchsenius, Blicher Mathiesen, & Bang Klitgaard 64836 (holotype, AAU; isotypes, COL, K, NY, QCA, QCNE).
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Description
Species Description - Solitary. Stem erect or sometimes procumbent, to 4.5 m tall, 2.5-6 cm diam., light brown, hard, unarmed or with black spines, to 5 cm long, base frequently supported by a cone of prop roots, up to 15 cm high. Leaves 8-10, erect and arching, lower ones recurving; sheath, petiole and rachis with a brown, caducous indument; sheath 23-37 cm long, armed with brown to yellow spines, to 5 cm long; petiole 8-18 cm long; rachis 74-120 cm long, spinulose, unarmed or with scattered, brown to yellow spines abaxially, to 5 cm long; pinnae 11-14 per side, inserted in groups of 2 or rarely 3 separated by 10-20 cm, in different planes, broadly cuneate, 1-3 times as long as wide, dark green adaxially, paler abaxially, strongly tricuspidate, with an up to 9 cm long finger-like projection on the distal margin, adaxial side smooth or rough, abaxial side minutely spinulose or rarely almost glabrous, midrib abaxially with 0-5 yellow to black, to 5 cm long spines; basal pinnae 6-18 x 1-13 cm; middle pinnae 11-29 x 12-20 cm; apical pinnae 1-3 ribbed, quite variable in size and shape, 8-23 x 6-30 cm. Inflorescence interfoliar, erect to drooping, branched to 1 order, sometimes with a few rachillae branched to second order; prophyll 20-56 cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide; peduncular bract 100-170 cm long, 2-2.5 cm wide, with a brown caducous indument, unarmed or with some yellow spines, to 1 cm long; peduncle 67-148 cm long, 4-6 mm diam. at junction with rachis, with a brown, scaly, caducous indument, and many yellow spines, to 1 cm long; rachis 15-55 cm long, unarmed or basally armed like that on the peduncle; rachillae 12-52, minutely spinulose, each subtended by a small bract, ca. 5 mm long; basal rachillae 28-50 cm long, sometimes without flowers for up to 6 cm, with triads for ca. ½ of the length, in this part 2 mm diam., distally ca. 1 mm diam., with staminate dyads; apical rachillae 4-8 cm long, staminate; flower groups sunken into the rachillae, each triad subtended by a bract that covers the pistillate and the proximal staminate flowers before anthesis, each dyad subtended by a similar but smaller bract, covering the proximal flower. Staminate flowers 1-2 mm long, purple with yellow anthers, the proximal of each triad distinctly pedicellate, the remaining more or less sessile; sepals imbricate, 1-1.5 mm long; petals free, valvate, 1.5-2.5 mm long; filaments of very uneven length, 0.2-1.5 mm long, anthers nearly square or slightly longer than wide, 0.5-0.8 x 0.5 mm; pistillode ca. 0.5 mm high. Pistillate flowers 2-4 mm long; sepals broadly imbricate, 2.5-3 mm long; petals connate ca. ½ of the length, valvate distally, 2-4 mm long; staminodial cup 1-2 mm high, truncate, adnate to corolla tube; pistil ca. 2 mm high, glabrous. Fruits reddish brown, speckled, globose, ca. 7 x 9 mm (conserved in alcohol), shortly rostrate; endocarp ca. 6 x 7 mm, irregularly grooved and longitudinally furrowed.
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Discussion
Aiphanes tricuspidata is distinguished by its solitary habit, often yellow spines on leaf sheath and rachis, broadly cuneate, tricuspidate pinnae, inserted in widely spaced pairs or triplets, and prior to anthesis almost completely hidden flower groups. In its habit and in its grouped, dark green, gently undulate pinnae, it resembles A. parvifolia, which differs in having obliquely to lobulate praemorse pinnae, and very short, fastigiate rachillae.
Distribution and Ecology: Found in the Pacific lowlands and the Andean foothills from the department of Valle in Colombia to the province of El Oro in southern Ecuador. An understory palm in primary rain forest, sometimes growing along streams, from sea level up to 650 m. Like other solitary understory species, it appears to be very sensitive to changes in the environment and unable to survive in open areas or secondary forest.
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Distribution
Colombia South America| Cauca Colombia South America| Nariño Colombia South America| Valle Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| El Oro Ecuador South America| Pichincha Ecuador South America|