Acanthophoenix is a genus of flowering plants in the palm family from the Mascarene Islands in the Indian Ocean, where they are commonly called palmiste rouge.

A genus long in flux, three species are currently recognized, though unsustainable levels of harvesting for their edible palm hearts have brought them all to near extinction in habitat.

The leaflets emerge from the hairy rachis in a flat plane, dark green above and lighter below, to 30 cm long, once-folded with a red or yellow, toothed midrib.

inflorescence sprouts at the crownshaft base, branched to two orders with a short, winged, tomentose peduncle, colored brown and bearing spines.

[2] The staminate flowers are asymmetrical, white to cream to red, the three sepals are short and imbricate, while the three valvate petals are three or four times as long.