Aiphanes tricuspidata (Palmae), a New Species from Colombia and Ecuador

Brittonia, 41(2), 1989, pp. 156-159. 9 1989, by the New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, NY 10458-5126

A I P H A N E S TRICUSPIDATA (PALMAE), A N E W SPECIES F R O M C O L O M B I A AND ECUADOR FINN BORCHSENIUS, RODRIGO G . BERNAL, AND MARTAMONICA RuIz Borchsenius, Finn (Botanisk Institut, Aarhus Universitet, Nordlandsvej 68, DK 8240 Risskov, Denmark), Rodrigo G. Bernal, and Martam6nica Ruiz (Instituto de Ciencias Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Apartado 7495, Bogotfi, Colombia). Aiphanes tricuspidata (Palmae), a new species from Colombia and Ecuador. Brittonia 41: 156-159.1989.--Aiphanes tricuspidata, a new species from Colombia and Ecuador is described and illustrated. It differs from the most similar species, A. deltoidea Burret, in its solitary habit, the trieuspidate pinnae, and a completely different flower arrangement.

Recent fieldwork in Colombia and Ecuador has resulted in the discovery of several novelties, one of which is described here as new to science.

Aiphanes tricuspidata Borchsenius, Bernal & Ruiz, sp. nov. (Fig. 1) Caudex solitarius, procumbens vel erectus, ad 4.5 m altus, armatus vel inermis. Frondes 8-10, 105175 cm longae; pinnae utrinsecus 11-14, irregulariter dispositae, 2-3 aggregatae, late cuneatae, apice valde tricuspidatae, erosae, supra virides, subtus sat pallidiores, setosae. Spadices interfrondiales, ramosae. Antherae subquadraticae. Gynoecium inerme.

Stem solitary, frequently procumbent, to 4.5 m tall, 2.5-6 cm diam; base sometimes with a cone of adventitious roots, to 15 cm high, individual roots red or brown, ca 2 cm diam, with white, prickly lenticels; internodes 2-8 cm long, unarmed or with black, applanate spines to 5 cm long, in bands below the nodes. Leaves 8-10, erect and arching; sheath, petiole, and rachis with a brown, caducous, scaly indument; sheath 23-37 cm long, green, open almost to base, with yellow to brown, applanate spines to 5 cm long; petiole 8-18 cm long, with spines similar to those on sheath, to 6 cm long, rarely almost unarmed; rachis 74-120 cm long, hirsute, otherwise unarmed or abaxially with spines similar to those on the sheath; pinnae 11-14 per side, inserted in groups of 2 or rarely 3, in different plants, groups separated by 10-20 cm, the proximal pinna of each group shorter and relatively wider than the distal, more erect than this, apical pinna 1-3-ribbed, the remainder 1-ribbed, thin, cuneate to broadly cuneate, 1-3 times as long as wide, the margins forming an angle of (25) 35-70 ~ apex strongly tricuspidate, erose, distal margin caudate, cauda to 9 cm long, adaxial side smooth or rough, midrib prominent, abaxial side noticeably paler than the adaxial, hirsute or rarely smooth, midrib yellow, with 0-5 yellow to black spines to 5 cm long, basal pinnae 6-18 x 1-13 cm, middle pinnae 11-23 x 12-20 cm (proximal of a group), 18-29 x 8-18 cm (distal of a group), apical pinnae 8-23 x 6-30 cm. Inflorescence interfoliar, erect or somewhat curving; prophyll ancipitous, 20-56 cm long, 1-3.5 cm wide, cream at base, green above, brown and fibrous apically, unarmed or with scarce yellow spines to 1 cm long; peduncular bract 100-170 x 2-2.5 cm, with a brown, caducous indument, unarmed or with some yellow spines to 1 cm long; peduncle 67-148 cm long, 0.5-1 cm diam, with a brown, caducous indument, and many yellow spines to 1 cm long; rachis 15-55 cm long, unarmed or basally armed as the peduncle; rachillae 12-52, unbranched or occasionally bifurcate, hirsute, each subtended by a small, ca 5 m m long bract, basal rachillae 28-50 cm long, sometimes pedunculate for up to 6 cm~ 2 m m diam at base, with linear triads of 1 pistillate and 2 staminate flowers for ca half of their length, distally

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F1G. 1. Aiphanes tricuspidata. A. Habit. B. Middle pinnae. C. Basal and distal portion ofrachilla before anthesis. D. Detail of proximal portion of raehilla showing flower arrangement. In the lower triad the subtending bract has been removed to show the flowers. E. Longitudinal section through triad. F. Staminate flower before anthesis, opened to show the stamens. G. Basal portion of rachilla with developing fruits. Drawn from holotype, Skov et al. 64836 (AAU).

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with dyads of staminate flowers, apical rachillae 4-8 cm long, staminate; flower groups deeply sunken into the rachillae, each triad subtended by a bract that covers the pistillate and the lower staminate flower before anthesis, each dyad subtended by a similar, but smaller bract, covering the lower flower. Staminate flowers violet, the proximal of each triad distinctly pedicellate, the remainder more or less sessile; sepals free, imbricate, carinate, membranous, shorter than the petals, 1-1.5 mm long; petals flee, valvate, ovate-acute, fleshy, 1.5-2.5 m m long; filaments basally connate in a narrow ring, free part variable in length, even in the same flower, 0.2-1.5 m m long; anthers nearly square or rectangular, 0.50.8 mm long, ca 0.5 mm wide; pistillode minute, three-lobed. Sepals of pistillate flowers free, imbricate, arched, carinate, somewhat fleshy, 2.5-3 mm long; petals connate for ca half their length, valvate above, ovate-acute, fleshy, 2-4 m m long; staminodial cup ca 1 mm high, adnate to the corolla tube; pistil conical, 1-2 m m high, glabrous. Developing fruits dark brown, with a green ring near apex, rostrate; mature fruits not seen. TYPE. ECUADOR. EL ORO: Naranjal-Machala road, km 33 from Machala, 8 km E along dirt-road leaving from Rio Bonito, disturbed tropical forest, 380 m, 19 Nov 1987, Skov, Borchsenius, Blicher-Mathiesen & Bang-Klitgaard 64836 (HOLOTYPE: AAU; ISOTYPES: C O L , K, NY, QCA, QCNE). Additional specimens examined: ECUADOR. EL ORo: Naranjal-Machala road, km 33 from Machala, 8 km E along dirt-road leaving from Rio Bonito, disturbed tropical forest, 380 m, 14 May 1987, Balslev et al. 62521 (AAU); hills NE ofLa Avanzada on road toward La Pifia, tropical forest, 500 m, 18 Nov 1987, Skov et al. 64829 (AAU). COLOMBIA. Cnucn: Municipio de Guapi, Parque Nacional Natural, Isla de Gorgona, 1841, Hinds s.n. (K); ibid. 300 m, 7 Sep 1987, Lozano 5916 (COL); ibid. 15 Sep 1987, Lozano 5691 (COL). NARI~O:Municipio de Barbacoas, Rio Telembi, between Barbacoas and ca 15 km up the river, 160 m, 20 Nov 1986, Bernal & H a m m e l 1321 (AAU, BA, COL, K, MO, NY, PSO). VALLE La Trojita, downstream from Bajo Calima, 20 m, 9 Apr 1976, Dransfteld et al. 4868 (K).

Aiphanes tricuspidata has so far been found in three localities in southwestern Colombia, and in two localities in southwestern Ecuador, but not between, although much fieldwork in search of palms has been carried out in this region in recent years. Aiphanes tricuspidata is distinguished from the other species by the solitary habit and the cuneate to very broadly cuneate pinnae, which are tricuspidate at apex and inserted in widely spaced groups of two or rarely three. The only previously described species of Aiphanes with tricuspidate pinnae is the well known A. caryotifolia (Kunth) Wendl., which has a stem up to 15 m tall and 15 cm diameter, around 40, glabrous pinnae per side, and yellow, 3-5 mm long staminate flowers, with linear anthers. In the broadly cuneate pinnae, A. tricuspidata recalls A. deltoidea Burret (1932: 568; TYPE: Tessmann 4709; ISOTYPE: G!), described from the confluence of Rio Santiago and Rio Marafion in Amazonian Peru. However, the latter differs from A. tricuspidata in its caespitose habit, and in its completely different flower arrangement. In A. tricuspidata each triad is subtended by a bract that encloses the pistillate and the lower staminate flower before anthesis, whereas in A. deltoidea the bract subtending the flower group is very small, and all flowers are exposed. Furthermore, the pinnae of A. deltoidea are narrower, the proximal of each pair being 2 to 2.5 times as long as wide, vs 1 to 2 times in A. tricuspidata, and the pinnae are obliquely praemorse to shallowly lobulate praemorse at apex, not tricuspidate. The rachillae of A. deltoidea are more slender, each subtended by a very small bract, instead of a conspicuous, to 5 m m long bract, the proximal part of the rachillae has some flowers inserted in tetrads of two pistillate and two staminate flowers, and the staminate flowers are orange, not violet.

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Staminate flowers of A. tricuspidata preserved in alcohol contained a dark red fluid of unknown nature. In dried flowers, remnants of this are evident as a dark purple mass on the receptacle and the filaments.

Acknowledgments We thank Kirsten Tind for preparing the illustration, and Jim Luteyn for helping us with the manuscript. We also thank Henrik Balslev for his support.

Literature Cited Burret, M. 1932. Die GattungenMartinezia und Aiphanes. Notizbl. Bot. Gart. Berlin-Dahlem 11: 557-577.

BOOK REVIEW

Handbook of Plant Cell Culture: Crop Species. Volume 3. Edited by P. V. Ammirato, D. A. Evans, W. R. Sharp, and Y. Yamada. Macmillan Publishing Co., 866 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022. ISBN 0-02-949010-3. 1985. 620 pp. $53 (cloth). This, the third and last volume in the series entitled Handbook of Plant Cell Culture, is a continuation of volume 2 dealing with plant tissue culture techniques in relation to improvements of various crop plants. The book starts with an excellent essay on the history of hybridization by E. C. Cocking, who is a pioneer in plant protoplast investigations. The rest of the text is divided into nine sections: Section I, an overview of plant germplasm resources; underexploited crops; and the development of plant varieties through anther culture; section II, cereals (forage grasses, millets, and rice); section III, legumes (alfalfa and peanuts); section IV; vegetables (cole crops and tomato), section V, root and tuber crops (potato and yams); section VI, tropical and subtropical fruits (citrus and pineapple); section VII, temperate fruits (blueberry, stone fruits, and strawberry); section VIII, fiber and wood (cotton and hardwoods); section IX, extractable products (cocoa, coffee, and oil palm). The treatise on germplasm resources should have been supplemented with various methods of cryopreservation to bring into focus other problems needing to be solved to make resource centers function more efficiently. The issue of underexploited crops is relative and subjective, because the development of any particular crop depends on its economic value. In the sections on various crop plants, it is evident that plant regeneration has been achieved mostly through shoot meristems and buds and that juvenile tissues give more consistent results than mature tissues. It is anticipated that with time, adequate protocols will be developed for mature tissues, because the development of explants in elite plants (hardwoods). The issue of juvenile tissues giving more consistent results becomes more intriguing when one considers that it is mostly embryonic tissues being successfully used in regeneration esperiments in various cereals. Volume 3 is not a repetitious treatment of the subject even though the section headings are the same as for volume 2. To those working on the various species discussed, the detailed information and references assembled make all three volumes valuable sources of reference.--SETH MANTE,New York Botanical Garden.