Aiphanes acanthophylla

Description

Aiphanes minima is a single-stemmed, spiny palm 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. Stems are usually 5 to 18 m (16 to 59 ft) tall, though occasionally as little as 2 m (6.6 ft) tall and 6 to 20 centimetres (2.4 to 7.9 in) in diameter. Younger stems are covered with rings of black spines, but on older stems these are often lost. Individuals bear 10–20 leaves which are pinnately compound, bearing 18 to 34 pairs of leaflets along a central rachis that is 130 to 400 cm (51 to 157 in) long. The leaflets are borne in a single plane, and are usually linear in shape, but sometimes widen towards their apex, especially in Puerto Rico. The lower surface of the leaf can be covered with spines up to 3 cm (1.2 in) long or can be unarmed; the upper surface has a row of spines about 1 cm (0.4 in) long along the midrib. The rachis can be unarmed but is often covered with black spines up to 6 cm (2.4 in) long. The petiole, which connects the rachis with the stem, is 15 to 110 cm (5.9 to 43.3 in) long and covered with black spines up to 8 cm (3 in) long.