''Aiphanes acaulis'' is a spiny palm

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to western

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. It is acaulescent, as the

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

''"acaulis"'' implies, – that is, the stem is short to the extent that it is difficult to see at all, and mostly

subterranean Subterranean(s) or The Subterranean(s) may refer to: * Subterranea (geography), underground structures, both natural and man-made Literature * ''Subterranean'' (novel), a 1998 novel by James Rollins * ''Subterranean Magazine'', an American fa ...

. Plants have 8 to 10 leaves which are up to 1.5 metres (5 feet) long. The flowers are purple and are borne on an erect

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

. ''Aiphanes acaulis'' is known from two small populations in the Chocó Department in western Colombia. It is found at wet lowland to premontane forest at an elevation of 150–700 m (500–2300') above sea level. The

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

is relatively new to science—a description of the species was first published in 1985, based on specimens collected in 1980. The species is similar in appearance to ''A. spicata'', which is the only other acaulescent species of ''

Aiphanes ''Aiphanes'' is a genus of spiny palms which is native to tropical regions of South and Central America and the Caribbean.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families There are about 26 species in the genus (see below), ranging in size fr ...

''. Based on floral and pollen characters, the two species do not appear to the closely related.

References

External links

Image of herbarium sheet
from

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden is an botanic garden with extensive collections of rare tropical plants including palms, cycads, flowering trees, and vines. It is located in the city of Coral Gables, Miami-Dade County, just south of Miami, s ...

acaulis This list of Latin and Greek words commonly used in systematic names is intended to help those unfamiliar with classical languages to understand and remember the scientific names of organisms. The binomial nomenclature used for animals and plants i ...

Endemic flora of Colombia Plants described in 1985 {{Cocoseae-stub