Aiphanes ulei

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Aiphanes (ah-ee-FAHN-ehz)
ulei (oo-LEH-ee)
Au2786283.jpg
Yasuni National Park, 50ha plot, Orellana, Ecuador. Photo by Dr. William J. Baker, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew/Palmweb.
Scientific Classification
Genus: Aiphanes (ah-ee-FAHN-ehz)
Species:
ulei (oo-LEH-ee)
Synonyms
None set.
Native Continent
America
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Morphology
Habit: Solitary, two forms; acaulescent & well developed aerial stem.
Leaf type: Pinnate
Culture
Survivability index
Common names
Jimena tfué ("chontaduro de nutria"; Colombia, Witoto); pa m si mo ha (Ecuador, Kofán); chontilla (Ecuador).

Habitat and Distribution

Found in the upper Amazon and on the eastern Andean slopes from southern Colombia to
Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden, Coral Gables, FL. Photo-palmvrienden.net
Peru, extending into the westernmost parts of Brazil, reaching 1850 m altitude in central Ecuador, and about 1000 m in northern Peru. The species is one of the most widely distributed and most frequently collected in the genus. 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. (Borchsenius, F. and Bernal, R. 1996. Aiphanes (Palmae). Flora Neotropica 70. pp 1-95)/Palmweb.

Description

Solitary. Stem 0-6 m tall, 2.5-5 cm in diam., armed with black spines, to 7 cm long. Leaves 6-15 in the crown, 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 in diam. at junction with rachis, densely armed with black or brown spines, to 1 (-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 ? with triads, in this part thickened and flattened, 6-7 mm wide, the remaining part more slender, 1-3 mm wide, with staminale 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, about 1 mm long; sepals cap-shaped, carinate, in bud almost completely enclosing the petals, 1-1.5 mm long; pelals almost free, valvale, 1-1.5 mm long; filaments 0.5-1 mm long, anthers nearly square, 0.5-0.6 x 0.5-0.7 mm; pistillode minute, sunken into the swollen receptacle. Pistillate flowers 2-3 mm long; sepals imbricate. about 2 mm long; petals connate ½, valvate distally, 2-2.5 mm long; staminodial cup about 1 mm high, nearly truncate; pistil 1.5-2 mm high, glabrous. Fruits globose, strongly rostrate, about 7 mm in diam., rostrum 1-2 mm long. (Borchsenius, F. and Bernal, R. 1996. Aiphanes (Palmae). Flora Neotropica 70. pp 1-95)/Palmweb. Editing by edric.

Two forms of this species appear to exist. The first is acaulescent and has white flowers, the other has a well developed aerial stem and yellow flowers. (Borchsenius F., Borgtoft-Pedersen H. and Baslev H. 1998. Manual to the Palms of Ecuador. AAU Reports 37. Department of Systematic Botany, University of Aarhus, Denmark in collaboration with Pontificia Universidad Catalica del Ecuador)/Palmweb.

Culture

Cold Hardiness Zone: 10a

Comments and Curiosities

Uses: The stem is used to make personal war spears for their dances in traditional feasts and rituals. HF: The stem is used to make improvised hunting spears. Blowgun darts are carved from the stem in lack of other materials. M: Decoction of the adventitous roots is drunk against colds, headache, body pain and shaking. A decoction of the crushed palm-heart is drunk to cure colds and bad cough. (Macía, M.J., Multiplicity in palm uses by the Huaorani of Amazonian Ecuador. 2004/Palmweb.


External Links

References

Phonetic spelling of Latin names by edric.

Special thanks to Geoff Stein, (Palmbob) for his hundreds of photos.

Special thanks to Palmweb.org, Dr. John Dransfield, Dr. Bill Baker & team, for their volumes of information and photos.

Glossary of Palm Terms; Based on the glossary in Dransfield, J., N.W. Uhl, C.B. Asmussen-Lange, W.J. Baker, M.M. Harley & C.E. Lewis. 2008. Genera Palmarum - Evolution and Classification of the Palms. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. All images copyright of the artists and photographers (see images for credits).

Borchsenius, F. and Bernal, R. 1996. Aiphanes (Palmae). Flora Neotropica 70. pp 1-95

Borchsenius F., Borgtoft-Pedersen H. and Baslev H. 1998. Manual to the Palms of Ecuador. AAU Reports 37. Department of Systematic Botany, University of Aarhus, Denmark in collaboration with Pontificia Universidad Catalica del Ecuador


Many Special Thanks to Ed Vaile for his long hours of tireless editing and numerous contributions.

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