Aiphanes eggersii, known locally as Corozo, is a species of spiney

Thorns, spines, and prickles

In botanical morphology, thorns, spines, and prickles are hard structures with sharp, or at least pointed, ends. In spite of this common feature, they differ in their growth and development on the plant; they are modified versions of different plant organs, stems, stipules, leaf veins, or hairs...

, pinnate

Pinnate

Pinnate is a term used to describe feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis in plant or animal structures, and comes from the Latin word pinna meaning "feather", "wing", or "fin". A similar term is pectinate, which refers to a comb-like arrangement of parts...

ly leaved palm

Arecaceae

Arecaceae or Palmae , are a family of flowering plants, the only family in the monocot order Arecales. There are roughly 202 currently known genera with around 2600 species, most of which are restricted to tropical, subtropical, and warm temperate climates...

 which is endemic to the coastal plain of Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

.

Description

Aiphanes eggersii is a small, multi-stemmed palm 1 to 6 m (3.3 to 19.7 ft) tall with up to 10 stems. Stems are 7 centimetre in diameter. Stems are covered with black or grey spines

Thorns, spines, and prickles

In botanical morphology, thorns, spines, and prickles are hard structures with sharp, or at least pointed, ends. In spite of this common feature, they differ in their growth and development on the plant; they are modified versions of different plant organs, stems, stipules, leaf veins, or hairs...

 up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long. Individuals have between 7 and 10 leaves which consists of a leaf sheath, a petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the stalk attaching the leaf blade to the stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem. Outgrowths appearing on each side of the petiole are called stipules. Leaves lacking a petiole are called sessile, or clasping when they partly surround the...

 and a rachis

Rachis

Rachis is a biological term for a main axis or "shaft".-In zoology:In vertebrates a rachis can refer to the series of articulated vertebrae, which encase the spinal cord. In this case the rachis usually form the supporting axis of the body and is then called the spine or vertebral column...

. Leaf sheaths, which wrap around the stem, are about 40 centimetre long and are covered with black or grey spines up to 10 cm (3.9 in) long. Petioles are 0 centimetre long and spiny. Rachises are 115 centimetre with 50 to 65 pairs of leaflets (or more rarely as few as 30 pairs).

Inflorescence

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. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...

s consist of a peduncle

Peduncle (botany)

In botany, a peduncle is a stem supporting an inflorescence, or after fecundation, an infructescence.The peduncle is a stem, usually green and without leaves, though sometimes colored or supporting small leaves...

 42 centimetre and a rachis 35 centimetre long. The rachis bears 35 to 75 rachillae, which are the smaller branches which themselves bear the flowers. Flowers are borne in groups consisting of one female and two male flowers. The male flowers are yellow, while the female flowers are yellow with brown sepals. The ripe fruit is bright red, spherical, and 18 to 22 mm (0.708661417322835 to 0.866141732283465 ) in diameter.

Taxonomy

Aiphanes

Aiphanes

Aiphanes is a genus of spiny palms which is native to tropical regions of South and Central America and the Caribbean. There are about 26 species in the genus, ranging in size from understorey shrubs with subterranean stems to subcanopy trees as much as tall...

has been placed in the subfamily

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Arecoideae, the tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 Cocoseae and the subtribe Bactridinae, together with Desmoncus

Desmoncus

Desmoncus is a genus of spiny palms native to the Neotropics. The genus extends from Mexico in the north to Brazil and Bolivia in the south, with two species, D. orthacanthos and D...

, Bactris

Bactris

Bactris is a genus of about 240 species in the palm family, Arecaceae, native to Central and South America, and the Caribbean. They are trees growing to 4-20 m tall. The leaves are up to 5 m long, and pinnate with numerous leaflets...

, Acrocomia

Acrocomia

Acrocomia aculeata is a species of palm native to tropical regions of the Americas, from southern Mexico and the Caribbean south to Paraguay and northern Argentina. Common names include Grugru Palm, Macaúba Palm, Coyol Palm, and Macaw Palm; synonyms include A. lasiospatha, A. sclerocarpa, A. totai,...

and Astrocaryum

Astrocaryum

Astrocaryum is a genus of about 36 to 40 species of palms native to Central and South America and Trinidad.-Description:Astrocaryum is a genus of spiny palms with pinnately compound leaves–rows of leaflets emerge on either side of the axis of the leaf in a feather-like or fern-like pattern. Some...

. In his 1932 revision of the genus, German botanist Max Burret

Max Burret

Karl Ewald Maximilian Burret, commonly known as Max Burret was a German botanist.Burret was born in Saffig near Andernach in the Prussian Rhine Province. He originally studied law at Lausanne and Munich at the instigation of his father...

 placed Aiphanes eggersii in the subgenus Macroanthera, one of the two subgenera into which he divided the Aiphanes. In their 1996 monograph, Finn Borchsenius and Rodrigo Bernal

Rodrigo Bernal

Rodrigo Bernal González is a Colombian botanist who specialises in the palm family. Bernal is a faculty member at the Institute of Natural Sciences, National University of Colombia. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Aarhus in 1996.Bernal has published over sixty works on palm...

 recognised that if Macroanthera was reduced to three species (A. horrida

Aiphanes horrida

Aiphanes horrida is a palm native to northern South America and Trinidad and Tobago. Aiphanes horrida is a solitary, spiny tree. In the wild it grows 3–10 metres tall tall with a stem diameter of 6–10 centimetres ; cultivated trees may be as much as 15 m tall with a 15 cm diameter...

, A. minima

Aiphanes minima

Aiphanes minima is a spiny palm tree which is native to the insular Caribbean from Hispaniola to Grenada, and widely cultivated elsewhere. Usually tall, it sometimes grows as an understorey tree and only in height.-Description:...

, and this species) it could form a viable grouping, but that this would leave the other subgenus, Brachyanthera overly heterogeneous, and consequently the abandoned Burret's use of subgenera.

Aiphanes eggersii was described by Burret in 1932 based on collections made by Danish botanist Henrik Franz Alexander von Eggers

Henrik Franz Alexander von Eggers

Henrik [Heinrich] Franz Alexander Baron von Eggers , was a Danish professional soldier and botanist.-Life:After studies at the gymnasium in Odense he entered the Danish army as subaltern in 1864 and fought in the Danish-German war.At the end of 1864 he joined the Imperial Mexican Volunteer Corps...

 in February 1897. The generic epithet

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

, Aiphanes, coined by German botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow

Carl Ludwig Willdenow

Carl Ludwig Willdenow was a German botanist, pharmacist, and plant taxonomist. He is considered one of the founders of phytogeography, the study of the geographic distribution of plants...

 in 1801, derives from Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 ai, meaning "always" and phaneros, meaning "evident", "visible" or "conspicuous". The specific epithet

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, eggersii, honours Eggers.

Reproduction

The flowers of A. eggersii produce small quantities of nectar, but lack a scent. Male flowers open

Anthesis

Anthesis is the period during which a flower is fully open and functional. It may also refer to the onset of that period.The onset of anthesis is spectacular in some species. In Banksia species, for example, anthesis involves the extension of the style far beyond the upper perianth parts...

 once the inflorescence is freed from the bract

Bract

In botany, a bract is a modified or specialized leaf, especially one associated with a reproductive structure such as a flower, inflorescence axis, or cone scale. Bracts are often different from foliage leaves. They may be smaller, larger, or of a different color, shape, or texture...

 in which it develops. They last eight to ten days. Female flowers open about a week after the male flowers, and last for another week. The flowers are visited by bee

Bee

Bees are flying insects closely related to wasps and ants, and are known for their role in pollination and for producing honey and beeswax. Bees are a monophyletic lineage within the superfamily Apoidea, presently classified by the unranked taxon name Anthophila...

s and wasp

Wasp

The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their...

s and contained micromoth

Lepidoptera

Lepidoptera is a large order of insects that includes moths and butterflies . It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world, encompassing moths and the three superfamilies of butterflies, skipper butterflies, and moth-butterflies...

 larvae; they are believed to be pollinated by bees, with a possible contribution from the wind.

Distribution and habitat

Aiphanes eggerii is endemic to the dry coastal plain of Ecuador, in areas receiving as little as 500 millimetres (19.7 in) of precipitation annually. and is common in Manabí Province

Manabí Province

Manabí is a province in Ecuador. Its capital is Portoviejo. The province is named after the Manabí people.-Economy:Manabí's economy is based heavily on natural resources such as cacao, bananas, cotton, etc. It's industrial sector is based on Tuna canning, tobacco, and alcoholic beverage production...

.