Aiphanes
Aiphanes is a genus of spiny palms which is native to tropical regions of South and Central America and the Caribbean.[2] There are about 26 species in the genus (see below), ranging in size from understorey shrubs with subterranean stems to subcanopy trees as tall as 20 metres (66 ft). Most have pinnately compound leaves (leaves which are divided into leaflets arranged feather-like, in pairs along a central axis); one species has entire leaves. Stems, leaves and sometimes even the fruit are covered with spines. Plants flower repeatedly over the course of their lifespan and have separate male and female flowers, although these are borne together on the same inflorescence. Although records of pollinators are limited, most species appear to be pollinated by insects. The fruit are eaten by several birds and mammals, including at least two species of amazon parrots.
Carl Ludwig Willdenow coined the name Aiphanes in 1801. Before that, species belonging to the genus had been placed in Bactris or Caryota. The name Martinezia had also been applied to the genus, and between 1847 and 1932 it was generally used in place of Aiphanes. Max Burret resurrected the name Aiphanes in 1932, and laid the basis for the modern concept of the genus. Aiphanes is most closely related to several other genera of spiny palms—Acrocomia, Astrocaryum, Bactris and Desmoncus. Two species are widely planted as ornamentals and the fruit, seeds or palm heart of several species have been eaten by indigenous peoples of the Americas for millennia.
Aiphanes is a genus of spiny palms ranging from 20-metre (66 ft) tall subcanopy trees to small shrubs with subterranean stems growing in the forest understorey.[3] Its name combines the Ancient Greek ai, meaning "always", with phaneros, meaning "evident", "visible" or "conspicuous".[4] In their 1996 monograph on the genus, botanists Finn Borchsenius and Rodrigo Bernal pointed out that "ironically, species of Aiphanes are generally very hard to spot and find in dense vegetation and, accordingly, are among the most poorly collected neotropical palms".[4]
While some species are single-stemmed, others form multi-stemmed (caespitose) clumps. Coupled with variation in stem size, this produces a diversity of growth forms in the genus—solitary (single-stemmed) palms that grow into the subcanopy of the forest, solitary or caespitose palms that grow in the forest understorey and acaulescent palms which lack an aboveground stem.[3]
Two species are characterised by an acaulescent growth habit—A. acaulis and A. spicata. Two other species—A. ulei and A. weberbaueri—occur in both acaulescent populations and those which produce above-ground stems. Several species are single-stemmed understorey palms, an unusual growth form. Aiphanes grandis and A. minima are single-stemmed palms which grow to be more than 10 metres (33 ft) tall, while the remainder are multi-stemmed understorey species. Multi-stemmed palms range from plants with a single main stem and a few basal suckers to caespitose clumps of 20 densely packed stems. A variety of growth forms can exist within a single species and this appears to be influenced by habitat and environmental conditions.[3]
The leaves of Aiphanes species are usually pinnately divided—rows of leaflets emerge on either side of the axis of the leaf in a feather-like or fern-like pattern. The sole exception to this is A. macroloba which has entire leaves. They are usually spirally arranged, but some species have a distichous leaf arrangement, a condition that is normal in palm seedlings but uncommon among adults. Old leaf bases detach cleanly from the stem, except in A. hirsuta subsp. fosteriorum, which often has old leaf bases attached to the newer portions of the stem.[5]
