Aiphanes duquei

Aiphanes duquei is a small palm up to 5 metres (16 ft) tall with stems about 5 centimetres (2.0 in) in diameter which are covered with black spines up to 15 cm (5.9 in) long. Stems grow singly, not in clonal clusters. Individuals have between 8 and 9 leaves which consists of a leaf sheath, a petiole and a rachis. Leaf sheaths, which wrap around the stem, are 72 cm (28 in) long. Petioles are yellow to brown, 4 to 25 cm (2 to 10 in) long, and are covered with spines up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long. Rachises are 91 to 110 cm (36 to 43 in), and scattered spines up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long. Leaves each bear 23 to 35 pairs of leaflets.[2]

The male flowers, which are purple in colour, are 4 to 5.2 millimetres (0.16 to 0.20 in) long. The female flowers are larger—13 to 20 mm (0.51 to 0.79 in) long. The fruit are red, 9 to 12 mm (0.35 to 0.47 in) long.[2]

The species was first described by German botanist Max Burret in 1937 based on a collection made in November 1936 by Colombian botanist J.M. Duque.[3] The generic epithet, Aiphanes, coined by German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow in 1801, derives from Greek ai, meaning "always" and phaneros, meaning "evident", "visible" or "conspicuous".[2] The specific epithet, duquei, honours the collector, J.M. Duque.[3]

Burret placed Aiphanes duquei in the subgenus Brachyanthera,[3] one of the two subgenera into which he divided the genus. While Borchsenius and Bernal recognised the other subgenus, Macroanthera as a potentially cohesive unit, they concluded that the remaining subgenus Brachyanthera would be overly heterogeneous, and consequently abandoned Burret's use of subgenera.[2]

Aiphanes duquei is endemic to an area of 200 square kilometres (77 sq mi) in the Cordillera Occidental in Colombia.[1] It is found in cloudy, lower montane wet and rain forests,[2] primarily in the Munchique and Farallones de Cali National Parks.[1]

On the basis of its limited distribution, and the fact that its habitat is vulnerable to expanding agriculture and forest management practices, it is classified as a vulnerable species.[1]