Astrocaryum species??

[colin Peters]

Any ideas on the species??  This is on the side of the road. Very spiny on leaves and trunk, but not on fruit, Thought it was a Bactris at first, maybe is??

aloha

Colin 

[mike in kurtistown]

Colin, the pics don't show the leaves in much detail, but would be whitish or silvery underneath if Astrocaryum. And the fruit bracts don't look much like the Astrocaryum that I have that is flowering. Now, one family of spiny, New World palms that have masses of red, marble-sized fruits would be Aiphanes.

 

[colin Peters]

Thanks Mike

After some checking around looks like Aiphanes minimum

aloha

Colin

[colin Peters]

Or, Aiphanes horrida, due to the windy location, may have reeked havoc on leaves. Either way it is not very "user friendly". 

thanks for the input

Colin 

[kurt decker]

Colin, the two common aiphanes species have an easy diagnostic. Erosa/Minima has spines on both sides of the leaves, Caryotifolia/Horrida only has them on the bottom.

[Palmarum]

Aiphanes minima. There is a debate whether or not A. acanthophylla should be lumped in with A. minima, which it was over a decade ago. I am not sure how they would be differentiated otherwise, unless just by locality.

Ryan