Aiphanes ulei (Dammer) 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 ulei (Dammer) Burret

  • Type

    Type. PERU. San Martin: Cerro de Escalero, 1200-1300 m, Nov 1902 and Jan 1903, Ule 6880 (B ). Neotype (here designated). PERU. Loreto: Prov. Requena, lower Río Ucayali valley, near Genaro Herrera, Kahn & Mejia 1916 (holoneotype, K).

  • Synonyms

    Martinezia ulei Dammer, Aiphanes schultzeana Burret

  • Description

    Species Description - Solitary. Stem 0-6 m tall, 2.5-5 cm diam., armed with black spines, to 7 cm long. Leaves 6-15, erect and arching; sheath 20-35 cm long, densely armed with black spines; petiole 5-70 cm long, with a thin, dark brown, caducous indument, armed as the sheath, less toward apex; rachis 60-180 cm long, with an indument like that on petiole, black spinules, and scattered black spines, to 5 cm long; pinnae 9-14 per side, inserted in pairs or rarely triplets separated by 10-20 cm, broadly cuneate, 1-3(-4) times as long as wide, sometimes strongly plicate along secondary veins, incised to bilobulate praemorse at apex, symmetrical around midrib, distal margin ecaudate, adaxial side dark green and glabrous, abaxial side pale greyish to silverish green, glabrous or minutely spinulose; basal pinnae 11-20 x 2-9 cm; middle pinnae 14-34 x 8-19 cm; apical pinnae 2-5 ribbed, 22-25 x 5-26 cm. Inflorescence interfoliar, erect, normally exserted above crown, all parts with a thin, dark brown, scaly indument; prophyll 21-32 x 1-3 cm; peduncular bract 65-100 cm long, unarmed, soon disintegrating; peduncle 50-100 cm long, 5-10 mm diam. at junction with rachis, densely armed with black or brown spines, to l(-3) cm long, rarely almost unarmed; rachis 20-40 cm long, unarmed except at base; rachillae 30-40, strongly appressed to rachis, with densely packed flower groups abaxially, without flowers adaxially, covered with minute spinules; basal rachillae 10-15 cm long, adnate to rachis for 3-5 cm or sometimes all their length, with flowers from base, the proximal 2/3 with triads, in this part thickened and flattened, 6-7 mm wide, the remaining part more slender, 1-3 mm wide, with staminate dyads or singles; apical rachillae 1-4 cm long, staminate, briefly adnate to rachis, somewhat spreading, distally with flowers on all sides; flower groups sunken into pits, subtended by fused bracts, forming a rim around the pit. Staminate flowers white to yellow, ca. 1 mm long; sepals cap-shaped, carinate, in bud almost completely enclosing the petals, 1-1.5 mm long; petals almost free, valvate, 1-1.5 mm long; filaments 0.5-1 mm long, anthers nearly square, 0.50.6 x 0.5-0.7 mm; pistillode minute, sunken into the swollen receptacle. Pistillate flowers 2-3 mm long; sepals imbricate, ca. 2 mm long; petals connate ½, valvate distally, 2-2.5 mm long; staminodial cup ca. 1 mm high, nearly truncate; pistil 1.5-2 mm high, glabrous. Fruits globose, strongly rostrate, ca. 7 mm in diam., rostrum 1-2 mm long.

  • Discussion

    Aiphanes ulei is characteristic in its solitary, often acaulescent habit; cuneate, paired pinnae, greyish to silverish green on the abaxial side; and especially inflorescences with strongly appressed rachillae that bear densely packed flower groups abaxially and no flowers adaxially. The only other species with such inflorescences is A. gelatinosa, from southwestern Colombia and adjacent Ecuador, which differs in having much larger, often multiple inflorescences; and linear to narrowly cuneate pinnae, regularly inserted or in lax groups of 2-4.

    The original collection of A. ulei (Ule 116b) from Cerro de Escalero near Tarapoto in the department of San Martín, Peru, is lost, and no isotypes exist. And unfortunately, the only existing collection from the type locality (Moore 8529) is sterile. As neotype we have instead chosen a specimen from Genaro Herrera on the Río Ucayali in the department of Loreto (Kahn & Mejia 1916), some 250 km east northeast of the type locality.

    Distribution and Ecology: Found in the upper Amazon and on the eastern Andean slopes from southern Colombia to Peru, extending into the westernmost parts of Brazil, reaching 1850 m altitude in central Ecuador, and ca. 1000 m in northern Peru. Often common, though never abundant, in primary rain forest, sometimes also in patches of disturbed or even secondary forest. In Ecuador the species is found both on terra firme and in temporarily flooded forest. The species is one of the most widely distributed and most frequently collected in the genus.

  • Common Names

    Jimena tfué, pa m si mo ha, chontilla

  • Distribution

    Colombia South America| Amazonas Colombia South America| Caquetá Colombia South America| Ecuador South America| Morona-Santiago Ecuador South America| Napo Ecuador South America| Pastaza Ecuador South America| Sucumbíos Ecuador South America| Tungurahua Ecuador South America| Peru South America| Loreto Peru South America| San Martín Peru South America| Brazil South America| Acre Brazil South America| Amazonas Brazil South America|