Curima O.F.Cook Tilmia O.F.Cook Aiphanes is a genus of spiny palms which is native to tropical regions of South and Central America and the Caribbean.

[2] There are about 26 species in the genus (see below), ranging in size from understorey shrubs with subterranean stems to subcanopy trees as tall as 20 metres (66 ft).

Aiphanes is a genus of spiny palms ranging from 20-metre (66 ft) tall subcanopy trees to small shrubs with subterranean stems growing in the forest understorey.

[4] In their 1996 monograph on the genus, botanists Finn Borchsenius and Rodrigo Bernal pointed out that "ironically, species of Aiphanes are generally very hard to spot and find in dense vegetation and, accordingly, are among the most poorly collected neotropical palms".

Aiphanes grandis and A. minima are single-stemmed palms which grow to be more than 10 metres (33 ft) tall, while the remainder are multi-stemmed understorey species.

A variety of growth forms can exist within a single species and this appears to be influenced by habitat and environmental conditions.

[3] The leaves of Aiphanes species are usually pinnately divided—rows of leaflets emerge on either side of the axis of the leaf in a feather-like or fern-like pattern.

[7] Pollen grains are usually spherical to ellipsoid in shape, sometimes triangular, about 20 to 30 micrometres along their long axis and 20 to 30 μm in diameter.

[10] The outer layer of the pollen is covered to a greater or lesser extent with ridges, spines or warts.

A thin skin (or epicarp), which can be either smooth or spiny, covers the fleshy mesocarp, which is typically orange and sweet.

The mesocarp of A. horrida has one of the highest reported carotene contents of any plant product and is also rich in protein.

Seventeen of these were new species, mostly based on collections made by German botanist Wilhelm Kalbreyer in northern Colombia between 1877 and 1881.

[16] The destruction of Burret's type collections left many species only known from his original descriptions, which generally lacked illustrations.

They recognised that if Macroanthera was reduced to three species (A. horrida, A. eggersii and A. minima) it could form a viable grouping, but that this would leave Brachyanthera overly heterogeneous.

[15] Borchsenius and Bernal determined that many of these names were synonyms, although American botanist George Proctor disagreed with their decision to lump A. acanthophylla into A. minima.

They recognised that if Macroanthera was reduced to three species (A. horrida, A. eggersii and A. minima) it could form a viable grouping, but that this would leave Brachyanthera overly heterogeneous.

Spanish botanist José Celestino Mutis produced a detailed description of A. lindeniana and illustrations of that species and what is thought to be A. horrida in 1779.

[4] In 1791 Joseph Gaertner included a species of Aiphanes in his De Fructibus et Seminibus Plantarum, calling it Bactris minima.

Borchsenius and Bernal cite an 1809 publication date for Jacquin's description, which gave precedence to Willdenow's name.

[4] However, the more recent World Checklist (2006) gives an 1801 publication date for Jacquin's description, making A. horrida the correct name for the species.

[23] In 1816 Alexander von Humboldt, Aimé Bonpland and Carl Sigismund Kunth described Martinezia caryotifolia, adding another name to the list of synonyms for A. horrida.

[15] Species accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families:[2] The genus Aiphanes ranges from Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic) and Panama in the north, to Trinidad and Tobago in the east, across Colombia and down along the Andes to Bolivia.

Aiphanes is primarily South American—one species (A. hirsuta) is present in Panama and two others (A. horrida and A. minima) are found in the Caribbean.

Other species have narrower ranges with one centre of diversity in western Colombia and Ecuador and another minor one in northeastern Peru.

[32] Rodrigo Bernal and Gloria Galeano expanded this list in a 2005 review of the status of Colombian palms.

erinacea, A. hirsuta, A. lindeniana (vulnerable according to the IUCN Red List), A. linearis, A. macroloba and A. simplex.

[33] The threats to these species were not listed, but Jens-Christian Svenning reported that A. erinacea was threatened by logging given its limited distribution and poor ability to regenerate in disturbed forests.

[34] In addition to these, A. deltoidea, which is widely distributed across the western Amazon Rainforest, is present at such low densities that it was classified as a rare species by Francis Kahn and Farana Moussa in 1994.

Aiphanes horrida was reportedly pollinated by wind, bees (Meliponidae), weevils (Curculionidae) and bugs (Hemiptera).

[49] Aiphanol, a compound isolated from A. horrida, has shown significant inhibitory activity against cyclooxygenases;[50] inhibition of these enzymes can provide relief from the symptoms of inflammation and pain.