Chapter II: Part 2

These singular and beautiful Palms have lofty, smooth, cylindrical or ventricose stems, very faintly ringed. The roots grow more or less above ground. The leaves are terminal and pinnate, and the leaflets are somewhat triangular, notched, often twisted or curled, and have radiating nerves. The sheathing bases form a column as in _Euterpe_. The spadices grow from beneath the leaves and are simply branched and drooping. The spathes vary in number and size; they are membranous, and fall off before the fruit ripens. The fruit is oval, of moderate size, generally of a red or yellow colour, and the pulpy part is bitter and uneatable. The stems of this genus increase in thickness within certain limits, differing from most other palms, which, when the stem is once formed, only increase in height.

Nine species of this genus are known, all natives of South America. Four of them occur in the Amazon district, three in Bolivia, one in Venezuela, and one near Bogotá, reaching a height above the sea of 5000 to 8000 feet.

Pl. XII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

IRIARTEA EXORHIZA. Ht. 60 Ft.
]

PLATE XII.
IRIARTEA EXORHIZA, _Martius_.

Pashiúba, _Lingoa Geral_.

This curious and beautiful tree is common in the forests about Pará and on the banks of the Amazon. It reaches fifty or sixty feet in height, with the stem moderately thick and very smooth, there being scarcely any rings or scars left by the fallen leaves.

The leaves are large and pinnate, with the leaflets triangular and very deeply notched, standing out at different angles with the midrib. The leaves curve over gracefully, and the character and aspect of the foliage is very different from that of most other palms. The column formed by the sheathing leaf-stalks is swollen at the base and of a deep green colour.

The spadices are three or four in number, growing rather upwards from the stem below the leaf-column. They are small and simply branched, and bear small oval red fruits about the size of a damson, the outer pulp of which is bitter and only eaten by some birds.

But what most strikes attention in this tree, and renders it so peculiar, is, that the roots are almost entirely above ground. They spring out from the stem, each one at a higher point than the last, and extend diagonally downwards till they approach the ground, when they often divide into many rootlets, each of which secures itself in the soil. As fresh ones spring out from the stem, those below become rotten and die off; and it is not an uncommon thing to see a lofty tree supported entirely by three or four roots, so that a person may walk erect beneath them, or stand with a tree seventy feet high growing immediately over his head.

In the forests where these trees grow, numbers of young plants of every age may be seen, all miniature copies of their parents, except that they seldom possess more than three legs, which gives them a strange and almost ludicrous appearance.

The figure on the opposite page (Plate XIII.) represents accurately the roots of a tree which had been partly blown down in the forest of the Upper Rio Negro. My friend Mr. Spruce informs me that it is a distinct species from that found at Pará, though closely allied to it, and scarcely differing in the character of the roots.

The wood of these trees is very hard on the outside, but soft and pithy within. It splits easily and very straight, and is much used for forming the floors of canoes, the ceilings of houses, shelves, seats, and various other purposes. Perfectly straight laths are more readily made from it than from any other wood, and they are so hard and durable as to serve for fish-weirs, corals for turtles, and for harpoons. The air-roots are covered with tubercular prickles, and are used by some Indians to grate their mandiocca.

This species grows in swamps or marshy ground in the virgin forest, not in the tide-flooded lands on the river banks.

Young plants may be seen in the great Palm House at Kew.

A fruit is represented on Plate III. fig. 5. of the natural size.

Pl. XIII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

ROOTS OF AN IRIARTEA.
]

Pl. XIV.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

IRIARTEA VENTRICOSA. Ht. 20 Ft.
]

PLATE XIV.
IRIARTEA VENTRICOSA, _Martius_.

Pashiúba barriguda, _Brazil_.

This is the most majestic tree of the genus. The stem reaches eighty or a hundred feet in height, and besides being rather thicker in proportion than in the last species, offers a remarkable character in being constantly more or less swollen near the middle or towards the top. The trunk is generally cylindrical to a height of forty or fifty feet, where it swells out to double its former diameter or more for ten or fifteen feet further, when it again diminishes and becomes cylindrical for about twenty feet to the summit. It is only when the trees have reached their full height or nearly so that the swelling commences. In a forest where they abound many may be seen of a large size, but quite cylindrical from top to bottom, while others present every degree of swelling from a just perceptible thickening to a most extraordinary enlargement. The column of air-roots in this species is six or eight feet high, forming a compact conical mass, the separate roots being more slender than in the _Iriartea exorhiza_.

The leaves are very large, with the leaflets broadly triangular and much cut and waved, forming a very elegant and yet massive head of foliage. The leaf-olumn is very thick, much swollen at the base, and of a deep bluish green colour.

The unopened spathes are lunate in shape and curved downwards, and the spadices are small and simply branched.

The wood of this tree is very hard, heavy and black, and is used by the Indians for making harpoons and spears with which they hunt the cow-fish. The swollen part of the stem is sometimes cut down and made into a canoe, when one is required in a hurry; otherwise it is not made use of.

The tree grows on the Upper Amazon and Rio Negro, on hill sides and on the banks of brooks and springs; and the Indians say that wherever it abounds sarsaparilla will be found growing near.

A fruit is represented on the Plate of the natural size.

Pl. XV.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

IRIARTEA SETIGERA. Ht. 20 Ft.
]

PLATE XV.
IRIARTEA SETIGERA, _Martius_.

Pashiúba miri, _Lingoa Geral_.

This small species has the stem from fifteen to twenty feet high, and varying from the thickness of a finger to that of the wrist, which it never exceeds. The stem is smooth and cylindrical, but distinctly ringed. The roots appear only a few inches above the ground. The leaves are pinnate, the leaflets elongate, triangular and cut at the ends. The column is short and cylindrical, and both it and the petioles are covered with short hairs or down. The spadices have long stalks and grow from beneath or from among the leaves; they are rather large and are simply branched. The spathes form sheaths at the bases of the spadices, and are persistent. The fruit is oval, of an orange-red colour, and about the size of the “hip” or wild rose fruit.

These trees grow on the Upper Amazon and Rio Negro in the dry virgin forest, where they occur in small scattered groves.

This species is of great importance to the Indian of the Rio Negro. With its stem he constructs his “gravatána” or blowing tube, which, with the little arrows before described as made from the spines of the Patawá, forms a most valuable weapon, enabling him to bring down monkeys, parrots and curassow birds from their favourite stations on the summits of the loftiest trees of the forest.

When he wishes to make a “gravatána” he searches in the forest till he finds two straight and tall stems of the “Pashiúba miri” of such proportionate thicknesses that one could be contained within the other. When he returns home he takes a long slender rod which he has prepared on purpose, generally made of the hard and elastic wood of the “Pashiúba barriguda,” and with it pushes out the pith from both the stems, and then with a little bunch of the roots of a tree fern, cleans and polishes the inside till the bore becomes as hard and as smooth as polished ebony. He then carefully inserts the slenderer tube within the larger, placing it so that any curve in the one may counteract that in the other. Should it still be not quite correct, he binds it carefully to a post in his house till it is perfectly straight and dry. He then fits a mouth-piece of wood to the smaller end of the tube, so that the arrow may go out freely at the other; and when he wishes to finish his work neatly, winds spirally round it from end to end, the shining bark of a creeper. Near the lower extremity he forms a sight with the large curved cutting tooth of the Paca (_Cœlogenus paca_), which he fixes on with pitch, and the gravatána is then fit for use.

These tubes are never less than eight and are often ten or twelve feet long, and on looking through a good one, not the slightest irregularity can be detected from one end to the other. The bore is generally not large enough to admit the tip of the little finger, so that the breath more readily fills the whole tube and propels the arrow with great velocity. The vertical direction is that in which the surest aim can be taken, and for which the gravatána is best adapted. When birds are feeding at the top of a lofty tree where the result of a gun-shot would be doubtful, a skilful Indian will take his station beneath it, and with a puff from his powerful lungs, will send up his little poisoned arrows with unerring aim. The wounded birds sometimes turn giddy and drop in a few seconds, or fly away to a neighbouring tree and in a minute fall heavily to the ground, or try to pluck out the arrows with their beaks, which, however, invariably break in the wound. The hunter carefully marks the direction in which each one falls, and when his quiver is emptied of arrows or the tree of birds, walks round and gathers up the game. His weapon makes no noise, and he therefore often does more execution than the best European sportsman armed with his double-barrel Manton.

On Plate XV. fig. 1. is a fruit of the natural size; fig. 2. is the gravatána or Indian blowpipe.

Genus RAPHIA, _Commerson_.

Male and female flowers intermixed on the same spadix. No common spathe, but many small incomplete sheaths. Male flowers with from six to twelve stamens and no rudiments of a pistil. Female flowers with three sessile stigmas and barren stamens.

The stems are short, thick and ringed. The leaves are very large, regular and pinnate; the leaflets are linear and have spinulose midribs and edges. The bases of the petioles are sheathing, and persistent some way down the stem, and the margins are fibrous. The spadices grow from among the leaves, and are very large and much branched; and the fruit is oblong and covered with large imbricated scales.

There are three species of the genus known; one is a native of the west coast of Africa, another of Madagascar, while a third is found on the banks of the Lower Amazon.

Pl. XVI.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

RAPHIA TÆDIGERA. Ht. 60 Ft.
]

PLATE XVI.
RAPHIA TÆDIGERA, _Martius_.

Jupatí, _Lingoa Geral_.

This is one of the most striking of the many noble Palms which grow on the rich alluvium of the Amazon. Its comparatively short stem enables us fully to appreciate the enormous size of its leaves, which are at the same time equally remarkable for their elegant form. They rise nearly vertically from the stem and bend out on every side in graceful curves, forming a magnificent plume seventy feet in height and forty in diameter. I have cut down and measured leaves forty-eight and fifty feet long, but could never get at the largest. The leaflets spread out four feet on each side of the midrib. They are rather irregularly scattered and not very closely set; they droop at the tips and have weak spinules along the margins.

The stem does not generally exceed six or eight feet in height and is about a foot in diameter, clothed for some distance down with the persistent sheathing bases of the leaf-stalks and the numerous spinous processes which proceed from them. These spines are something like those of the “Patawá,” but not so thick and strong.

The spadices are very large, compoundly branched and drooping; they grow from among the leaves and have numerous bract-like sheaths in the place of spathes.

The flowers are of a greenish olive colour and densely crowded, and the fruit is large, oblong, and reticulated with large scales.

The petiole or leaf-stalk of this tree is most extensively useful. It is often twelve or fifteen feet long below the first leaflets, and four or five inches in diameter, perfectly straight and cylindrical. When dried, it almost equals the quill of a bird for strength and lightness, owing to its thin hard outer covering and soft internal pith. But it is too valuable to the Indian for him to use it entire. He splits off the smooth glossy rind in perfectly straight strips and makes baskets and window blinds. The remaining part is of a consistence between pith and wood, and is split up into laths about half an inch thick and serves for a variety of purposes. Window shutters, boxes, bird-cages, partitions and even entire houses are constructed of it. In the little village of Nazaré near Pará, many houses of this kind may be seen in which all the walls are of this material, supported by a few posts at the angles and fastened together with pegs and slender creepers (sipós).

The hand may be easily pushed through one of these walls, but as the inhabitants do not trouble themselves with the possession of any article worth stealing, they sleep as composedly as if stone walls and iron bolts shut them in with all the security of a more advanced civilization.

The same material is also used for stoppers for bottles, and we found it answer admirably for lining our insect boxes, holding the pins securely and being more uniform in its texture than cork.

This is the only American species of the genus, and it inhabits exclusively the tide-flooded lands of the Lower Amazon and Pará rivers, being quite unknown in the interior. When descending from the Rio Negro to Pará in the summer of 1852, I observed some of our Indians who had made the voyage before, pointing out this tree to their less travelled companions as one of the curiosities of the lower country not to be found in the “Sertaõ.”

It is probable that the leaf, though not entire, is the largest in the whole vegetable kingdom, some of them covering a surface of more than 200 square feet. In a few years we may be able to see them in the magnificent Palm House at Kew, where young plants are now growing.

Plate II. fig. 1, a fruit of _Raphia tædigera_ of the natural size.

Genus MAURITIA, _Linnæus_.

Male flowers on one tree, female or hermaphrodite flowers on another. The spathes are imperfect, bract-ike, tubular sheaths. The male flowers have six stamens. The female flowers have a three-lobed stigma and six imperfect stamens.

The stems are either tall, columnar and smooth, or more slender and armed with strong conical spines. The leaves are all fan-shaped or radiating from a centre. The spadix is very large and pinnately branched, and grows from among the leaves. The fruits are of moderate size, oval or globular, and covered with rather small imbricated scales pointing downwards.

Four species are described by Martius, three of which occur in the Amazon district, and four more were met with by me on the Rio Negro, so that the genus seems confined to the hottest parts of the American Continent from the level of the sea to an altitude of about 3000 feet.

Pl. XVII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

MAURITIA FLEXUOSA. Ht. 100 Ft.
]

PLATE XVII.
MAURITIA FLEXUOSA, _Linnæus_.

Mirití, _Lingoa Geral_.
Muríchi, _in Venezuela_.
Itá? _Mouth of the Orinoco._

This is one of the most noble and majestic of the American Palms. It grows to a height of eighty or a hundred feet. The stem is straight and smooth, about five feet in circumference, often perfectly cylindrical, but sometimes swollen near the middle or towards the top, so that the bottom is the thinnest part.

The leaves spread out in every direction from the top of the stem. They are very large and fan-shaped, the leaflets spreading out rigidly on all sides and only drooping at the tips and at the midrib or elongation of the petiole. The leaves stand on long stalks which are very straight and thick, and much swollen at the base which clasps the stem. A full-grown fallen leaf of this tree is a grand sight. The expanded sheathing base is a foot in diameter; the petiole is a solid beam ten or twelve feet long, and the leaf itself is nine or ten in diameter. An entire leaf is a load for a man.

The spadices grow out from among the leaves; they are very large, pinnately branched and horizontal or drooping. The fruit is spherical, the size of a small apple and covered with rather small, smooth, brown, reticulated scales, beneath which is a thin coating of pulp. A spadix loaded with fruit is of immense weight, often more than two men could carry between them.

The leaves, fruit and stem of this tree are all useful to the natives of the interior. The leaf-stalks are applied to the same purposes as those of the species last described, the Jupatí. The epidermis of the leaves furnishes the material of which the string for hammocks, and cordage for a variety of purposes is made. The unopened leaves form a thick-pointed column rising from the very centre of the crown of foliage. This is cut down, and by a little shaking the tender leaflets fall apart. Each one is then skilfully stripped of its outer covering, a thin riband-like pellicle of a pale yellow colour which shrivels up almost into a thread. These are then tied in bundles and dried, and are afterwards twisted by rolling on the breast or thigh into string, or with the fingers into thicker cords. The article most commonly made from it is the “réde,” or netted hammock, which is the almost universal bed of the native tribes of the Amazon. These are formed by doubling the string over two rods or poles about six or seven feet apart, till there are forty or fifty parallel threads, which are then secured at intervals of about a foot by cross strings twisted and tied on to every longitudinal one. A strong cord is then passed through the loop formed by all the strings brought together at each end, by which the hammock is hung up a few feet from the ground, and in this open net the naked Indian sleeps beside his fire as comfortably as we do in our beds of down.

Other tribes twist the strings together in a complicated manner so that the hammock is more elastic, and the Brazilians have introduced a variety of improvements by using a kind of knitting needles producing a closer web, or by a large wooden frame with rollers, on which they weave in a rude manner with a woof and weft as in a regular loom. They also dye the string of many brilliant colours which they work in symmetrical patterns, making the rédes or “maqueiras” as they are there called, among the gayest articles of furniture to be seen in a Brazilian house on the Amazon.

From the fruits a favourite Indian beverage is produced. They are soaked in water till they begin to ferment, and the scales and pulpy matter soften and can be easily rubbed off in water. When strained through a sieve it is ready for use, and has a slight acid taste and a peculiar flavour of the fruit at first rather disagreeable to European palates.

In the tidal districts about Pará, the massive trunks of these trees are often used to form a raised pathway across the expanse of soft mud generally left at low water between “terra firma” and the water’s edge. A smooth and slippery cylinder is certainly not the best thing that could be devised for this purpose, but as it is the most easily procured and the least expensive it is proportionately common, and on paying a visit to many a Brazilian country house, should you arrive at low water, you will have no other means of getting ashore.

The Miriti is a social palm, covering large tracts of tide-flooded lands on the Lower Amazon. In these places there is no underwood to break the view among interminable ranges of huge columnar stems rising undisturbed by branch or leaf to the height of eighty or a hundred feet,—a vast natural temple which does not yield in grandeur and sublimity to those of Palmyra or Athens.

Of the age of these noble trees we have no knowledge, but it is remarkable how uniform they appear in size, there often being not a single young tree over a considerable extent of ground, particularly in places now flooded daily by the tide. One would therefore imagine that the present trees sprung up when the ground was more elevated than at present, and that it has since gradually sunk (or the waters risen) till the conditions have become unfavourable for the growth of young plants, though not hurtful to those which had already attained a certain age. Whether such is the true explanation of the phænomenon can only be decided by continued observation on the spot.

Besides this species which is mentioned by Martius as occurring at Pará, my friend Mr. Spruce ascertained that another closely allied palm, the _Mauritia vinifera_, also occurs there. On the Upper Amazon and Rio Negro a palm is found supposed to be the _M. flexuosa_, but it is not so lofty a tree, which may perhaps be accounted for by its growing on annually instead of diurnally flooded lands. It is believed to be the same species which Humboldt observed on the Serra Duida. The Itá palm growing on the delta of the Orinoco is also thought to be the same species. On the river Uaupes, a branch of the Upper Rio Negro, I observed an allied species called by the natives “Caraná assu.” The stem was smooth and much more slender and waving, and the leaves much smaller.

Plants of the _Mauritia flexuosa_ are growing in the Palm House at Kew.

On Plate XVII. a single leaf is represented, showing the flabellate form produced by abbreviation of the midrib.

Plate II. fig. 2. is a fruit of the natural size.

Pl. XVIII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

MAURITIA CARANA. Ht. 40 Ft.
]

PLATE XVIII.
MAURITIA CARANA, n. sp.

Caraná, _Lingoa Geral_.

This is a large smooth-stemmed species allied to _M. flexuosa_, but quite distinct and hitherto undescribed. The stem is about a foot in diameter and from twenty to forty feet high, smooth and obscurely ringed. The leaves are very similar to those of the Mirití, but the leaflets are not so deeply divided, being united together at the base for one-third of their entire length, and much more drooping at the tips. The petioles are very large, straight and cylindrical; their dilated bases are persistent for a considerable distance down the stem, and their margins give out a quantity of fibres which clothe it as in the _Leopoldinia piassaba_, though rather less densely.

The spadices grow from among the leaves and are somewhat more erect and much smaller than in the Mirití, and the fruits are less abundant, smaller and slightly ovate.

The leaf-stalks of this species are used for the same purposes as those of the Mirití and Jupatí already described, as those palms are generally absent where this is abundant. The part most generally used, however, is the leaf, which for thatching is preferred to that of any other species, on account of its having so large a portion of the base entire and being of a very durable texture. A roof well-thatched with Caraná will last eight or ten years without renewing, and the leaves are so constantly cut for this purpose that it is hardly possible to find an entire and handsome tree. Though so closely resembling the Mirití, the epidermis is never used for cordage, and on my asking an Indian the reason, he quite laughed at the idea, saying that it was quite impossible because the Caraná “did not produce any thread.”

This tree grows in the district of the Rio Negro and Upper Orinoco, but is not found on the Amazon. It prefers the dry Catinga forests, or the sandy margins of streams out of reach of the highest floods. At Javita I observed it growing within a few yards of the Mirití, but still preserving all its distinctive characters.

It is called by the natives Caraná, the smaller prickly stemmed species being known by the name of Caranaí.

Pl. XIX.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

MAURITIA ACULEATA. Ht. 45 Ft.
]

PLATE XIX.
MAURITIA ACULEATA, _Humboldt_.

Caranaí, _Lingoa Geral_ (_Rio Negro_).
Caraná? (_Pará_).

This species has a tall, erect and slender stem reaching about forty or fifty feet in height and armed with numerous, long, conical, woody spines arranged in rings. The leaves are rather small with the leaflets rigid and very slightly drooping at the tips, and united at the base for about one-eighth of their length. The petioles are long and slender and are deciduous, the entire leaf falling away from the stem. The midrib and edges of the leaflets are armed with weak spinules. The spadices are small and grow somewhat erect so as to be partly concealed among the leaves, and the fruit is oval and rather small.

This species grows on the Upper Rio Negro and Atabapo, in marshes, with a rocky subsoil, and in the moist parts of the Catinga forest. The Caraná, common in the swamps (not in the tide-flooded lands) about Pará, is very closely allied or may be the same species.

Pl. XX.

W. Fitch. lith. Ford & West Imp.

MAURITIA GRACILIS. Ht. 30 Ft.
]

PLATE XX.
MAURITIA GRACILIS, n. sp.

Caranaí, _Lingoa Geral_.

This very elegant species is rather smaller than the last. The stem is from twenty to thirty feet high, slender, waving, and ringed with conical spines rather smaller than in _M. aculeata_.

The leaves are from five to eight in number with much-drooping leaflets. The petioles are slender, short, and greatly dilated at the base. The spadices are three or four in number, growing from among the leaves, of very large size in proportion to the tree, much branched and drooping. They bear great quantities of fruit, which is of an oval shape and nearly as large as that of the _Mauritia carana_.

This beautiful little palm is first met with about Barcellos on the Rio Negro, more than 300 miles up the river, and is thence common as far as the black-water tributaries of the Orinoco. It always grows close to the water’s edge in clumps of thirty or forty individuals, and its drooping leaves of a pale hoary green colour, never so much crowded as to lose their distinct outline, with the bending clusters of rich brown fruit, render it one of the greatest ornaments of its native river. The fruit is eaten, after being softened by soaking some time in water.

It seems closely allied to _M. armata_ of Martius, which is found much farther south, on the banks of the S. Francisco River, but is probably quite a distinct species.

Pl. XXI.

W. Fitch. lith. Ford & West Imp.

MAURITIA PUMILA. Ht. 10 Ft.
]

PLATE XXI.
MAURITIA PUMILA, n. sp.

Caranaí, _Lingoa Geral_.

This curious little palm is only eight or ten feet high, and has the stem slender, ringed, and armed with strong conical spines. The leaves are rather small and few in number, and the leaflets are much shorter, broader and more rigid than in any other palm of this genus. The petioles are long and rather thick, much sheathing at the bases which are persistent, clothing the stem some distance down after the leaves have dropped away from them, a character not found in any other prickly stemmed species. The spadix is very long, branched and drooping. The fruit was not seen.

I only met with this palm on the Upper Rio Negro in two localities on the sandy margins of rivers and lakes just above the limits of the winter floods.

Genus LEPIDOCARYUM, _Martius_.

Male flowers on one tree, female or hermaphrodite flowers on another. Spathes, imperfect, bract-like, tubular sheaths. The male flowers have six stamens. The female flowers have three sessile stigmas and six imperfect stamens.

The stems are very slender, unarmed with spines or tubercles and deeply ringed. The leaves are fan-shaped, and have slender petioles and long swollen sheaths. The spadices are elongate and pinnately branched, growing from among the leaves. The fruits are oblong and covered with imbricated scales.

These delicate and very rare little Palms scarcely differ botanically from the last genus. Two species only are known, inhabiting the dense virgin forests of the Upper Amazon and Rio Negro, where they appear to be very locally distributed.

Pl. XXII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

LEPIDOCARYUM TENUE Ht. 8 Ft.
]

PLATE XXII.
LEPIDOCARYUM TENUE, _Martius_.

Caranaí do Mato, _of the Rio Negro_.

This, the smallest of the fan-leaved Palms, has a smooth, ringed, waving stem as thick as one’s finger and six or eight feet high. Its dark green glossy leaves, with narrow drooping leaflets, grow on long and slender stalks which have their sheathing bases much swollen and lengthened.

The spadices are small and slender, and the fruits, which are not abundant, are scaled in the same manner as those of the Mauritias, and are about the size of a large hazel-nut.

This rare and elegant species grows in the gloomiest depths of the virgin forest of the Upper Rio Negro, generally at some distance inland from the rivers, and shaded by the loftiest forest trees.

Plate II. fig. 4. represents a fruit of this species of the natural size.

Genus GEONOMA, _Willdenow_.

Male and female flowers on distinct trees, or rarely on distinct spadices of the same tree. Spathe small, incomplete. Male flowers with six stamens and a rudimentary pistil. Female flowers with three stigmas and a six-toothed ring of abortive stamens.

These are small palms with slender, smooth, ringed, reed-like stems. The leaves are large, regularly or irregularly pinnate, with the leaflets broad, and the bases of the petioles sheathing. The spadices are slender and more or less branched, and the spathes are double but small and membranous. The fruits are small, round or ovate, and are not eatable.

There are thirty-three species of this genus known, all of small size, and inhabiting various parts of South America and Mexico, from the level of the sea to 2000 feet above it. Many species may be seen flourishing in the Palm House at Kew.

Pl. XXIII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

GENOMA MULTIFLORA. Ht. 12 Ft.
]

PLATE XXIII.
GEONOMA MULTIFLORA, _Martius_.

Ubimrána, _Lingoa Geral_.

This handsome species is from eight to fifteen feet high, and has the stem regularly ringed or jointed, giving it a reed-like appearance. The leaves are very large, regularly pinnate and gracefully drooping on every side. The leaflets are very regularly placed on the midrib, and the terminal pair are much larger and broader. The petioles are slender and smooth, and the sheathing bases have an expanded fibrous margin.

The spadices grow from among the lower leaves, and are short, erect and simply branched. The spathes are very small and concealed among the petioles. The fruit is small, ovate, and when ripe of a red colour.

This appears to be the _Geonoma multiflora_ of Martius, but the species are so closely allied that without a comparison of specimens it is very difficult absolutely to identify them.

I have found it only in the Catinga forests of the Upper Rio Negro, where it occurs very sparingly.

A fruit is represented on the Plate of the natural size.

Pl. XXIV.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

GEONOMA PANICULIGERA. Ht. 9 Ft.
]

PLATE XXIV.
GEONOMA PANICULIGERA, _Martius_.

Ubim de Cotiwiya, _Lingoa Geral_.

This is a species from six to nine feet high and very similar in appearance to the last. The leaves, however, have only three or four pairs of leaflets of irregular width, the terminal pair being always very large and broad, and the others not being always placed opposite each other on the midrib.

The spadix is large, much branched and somewhat drooping, and has a small, soft and inconspicuous basal spathe. The fruit is small and round.

This species grows in the same localities and in the same soil as the last, but is much more abundant. It appears to agree well with the _G. paniculigera_ of Martius.

There is a very closely allied species abundant in certain parts of the flooded lands or “gapó” of the Rio Negro, which is much used for thatching. The leaves being cut, the leaf-stalks are doubled and hitched on side by side to a strip of “pashiúba,” and secured with “sipós” (which are the air-roots of _Arums_ and other plants). They are said to make one of the most durable kinds of roof, and are much used for covering the semicircular “toldas” of canoes. They are also considered the best material for lining baskets of salt, and persons often go several days’ journey to procure them for both these purposes.

I had no opportunity of closely examining the species which produces these leaves, and which is called “Ubim,” in contradistinction to the other allied species which are termed “Ubimrana” (false ubim), “Ubim de cotiwiya” (Agouti’s ubim) and other such names, and all of which, though sometimes used as substitutes, are said to be much less durable.

Pl. XXV.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

GEONOMA RECTIFOLIA. Ht. 8 Ft.
]

PLATE XXV.
GEONOMA RECTIFOLIA, n. sp.

Ubimrána, _Lingoa Geral_.

This little species is nearly allied to the last. It reaches six or eight feet in height and has the stem distinctly jointed and the leaves persistent some way down it. The petioles grow very upright, and there are three or four pair of long, narrow and rather rigid leaflets, the terminal being the largest.

The spadices are numerous from the axils of the lower leaves, and are small and simply branched; and the fruit is very small, round and black.

This palm may be distinguished from _G. paniculigera_, to which it is most closely allied, by its very long narrow leaflets and much more erect habit; and by its smaller and less-branched spadices growing lower down on the stem, often below the leaves.

I found it in a few localities only on the Upper Rio Negro, growing in the sandy Catinga forest near the margin of the river.

A fruit is represented on the Plate of the natural size.

Genus MANICARIA, _Gærtner_.

Male and female flowers in the same spadix. Spathe fusiform, fibrous, complete, breaking open irregularly. Male flowers with twenty-four to thirty stamens. Female flowers (situated below the male) with three sessile stigmas and twelve rudimentary stamens.

Stem short, thick and irregularly ringed. Leaves very large, entire and rigid, the sheathing bases persistent. Spadices simply branched, growing from among the leaves, nearly erect. Fruit large, hard, somewhat triangular or three-lobed and three-seeded, externally very rugose.

Only one species of this genus is known, which inhabits the Lower Amazon at the level of the sea.

Pl. XXVI.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

MANICARIA SACCIFERA Ht. 40 Ft.
]

PLATE XXVI.
MANICARIA SACCIFERA, _Gærtner_.

Bussú, _Lingoa Geral_.

This unique and handsome palm has the stem from ten to fifteen feet high, curved or crooked and deeply ringed. The leaves are very large, entire, rigid and furrowed, and have a serrated margin; they are often thirty feet long and four or five wide, and split irregularly with age. The petioles are slender with a broadly expanded fibrous-edged sheath at the base. These sheaths are persistent and often cover the stem down to the ground.

The spadices are numerous, growing from among the leaves, and are simply branched and drooping. The fruit is of an olive colour, somewhat three-lobed and with a rugose or papillate exterior covering. The spathe is fusiform and entire, of a fibrous cloth-like texture and of a brown colour. As the spadix expands it breaks open irregularly, but in some cases a dead unopened flower bunch is found enclosed in an entire half-rotten spathe, as if the vital powers of the plant had not been sufficient to tear asunder the tough fibrous sheath.

The “bussú” produces the largest entire leaves of any known palm, and for this reason, as well as on account of their firm and rigid texture, they form the very best and most durable thatch. The leaves are split down the midrib and the halves laid obliquely on the rafters, so that the furrows formed by the veins lie in a nearly vertical direction and serve as so many little gutters to carry off the water more rapidly. A well-made thatch of “bussú” will last ten or twelve years, and an Indian will often take a week’s voyage in order to get a canoe-load of the leaves to cover his house.

The spathe too is much valued by the Indian, furnishing him with an excellent and durable cloth. Taken off entire it forms bags in which he keeps the red paint for his toilet or the silk cotton for his arrows, or he even stretches out the larger ones to make himself a cap,—cunningly woven by nature without seam or joining. When cut open longitudinally and pressed flat, it is used to preserve his delicate feather ornaments and gala dresses, which are kept in a chest of plaited palm leaves between layers of the smooth “bussú” cloth.

This species inhabits the tidal swamps of the Lower Amazon. A palm called “bussú” is also found on the Rio Negro and Upper Amazon, but it is of a smaller size and is probably a distinct species.

A spathe is represented on the Plate and a dead stem from which the leaves have entirely fallen.

Plate II. fig. 3, a fruit of _Manicaria saccifera_ of the natural size.

Genus DESMONCUS, _Martius_.

Male flowers on the upper parts of the branches of the spadix, females on the lower. Spathe fusiform, woody, at length deciduous. Male flowers with six stamens and linear acute anthers. Female flowers with a short style and three stigmas and six small scaly rudiments of stamens.

Stems slender, flexible, climbing over shrubs or trees. Leaves alternate, pinnate, much sheathing, with long hooked spines in the place of the three or four terminal pair of leaflets. The spadices are axillary and simply branched, the spathes double, fusiform or ventricose, and the fruits are small, round, and generally red. The stems and leaves are more or less prickly.

Fourteen species of these curious Palms are found in various parts of South America, principally in the low lands, as they are not known at a greater height than 2000 feet above the level of the sea. They differ remarkably from all other American palms in their long climbing stems, in which they resemble the Calami or Canes so abundant in the East Indies.

Pl. XXVII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

DESMONCUS MACROACANTHUS. Ht. 50 Ft.
]

PLATE XXVII.
DESMONCUS MACROACANTHUS, _Martius_.

Jacitára, _Lingoa Geral_.

The stem of this palm is very slender, weak and flexible, often sixty or seventy feet long, and climbing over bushes and trees or trailing along the ground. It is armed with scattered tubercular prickles. The leaves grow alternately along the stem; they are pinnate, with from three to five pairs of leaflets, beyond which the midrib is produced and armed with several pairs of strong spines directed backwards, and with numerous smaller prickles. The leaflets are ovate, with the edges waved or curled. The bases of the petioles are expanded into long membranous sheaths.

The spadices grow on long stalks from the axils of the leaves and are simply branched. The spathes are ventricose, erect, persistent and prickly, and the fruit is globular, of a red colour, and not eatable.

The rind or bark of this species is much used for making the “tipitis” or elastic plaited cylinders used for squeezing the juice out of the grated Mandiocca-root in the manufacture of farinha. These cylinders are sometimes made of the rind of certain water plants and of the petioles of several palms, but those constructed of “Jacitára” are said to outlast two or three of the others, and though they are much more difficult to make, are most generally used among the Indian tribes. When the cylinders are used they are suspended from a strong pole, having been first filled with the grated pulp. A long lever is passed through the loop at the lower end of the “tipiti,” by means of which it is stretched, the power being applied by a woman sitting on the further extremity of the pole. The cylinder thus becomes powerfully contracted, and the poisonous juice runs out at every part of the surface and is caught in a pan below in order to be carefully thrown away, for it would cause speedy death to any domestic animal which should drink it.

This species grows in the Catinga forests of the Upper Rio Negro and on the margins of small streams, climbing over trees and hanging in festoons between them, throwing out its armed leaves on every side to catch the unwary traveller. How often will they seize the insect-net of the ardent Entomologist just as he is making a dash at some rare butterfly, or fasten in his jacket or shirt-sleeve, or pull the cap from his head! Woe then to the impatient wanderer! a pull or a tug will inevitably cause a portion of the fractured garment to stay behind, for the “jacitára” never looses its hold, and it is only by deliberately extracting its fangs that the intruder can expect to depart unhurt.

In some places small igaripés or forest streams are almost filled up with various climbing grasses and creepers, among which the “jacitára” holds a prominent place, and it is up these streams that the Indians often delight to fix their abode. In such cases they never cut down a branch, but pass and repass daily in their little canoes which wind like snakes among the tangled mass of thorny vegetation. They are thus almost safe against the incursions of the white traders, who often attack them in their most distant retreats, carry fire and sword into their peaceful houses and take captive their wives and children. But few white men can penetrate for miles along a little winding stream such as is here described, where not a broken twig or cut branch is found to show that a human being has ever passed before. Thus does the thorny “jacitára” help to secure the independence of the wild Indian in the depths of the forests which he loves.

This species most nearly agrees with the _D. macroacanthus_ of Martius. Fine specimens of an allied species may be seen growing in the Palm House at Kew.

A fruit is represented on the Plate of the natural size.

Genus BACTRIS, _Jacquin_.

Male and female flowers intermingled in the same spadix, the females being more abundant in the lower parts and the males in the upper. Spathe double, exterior short and membranous, interior complete, woody. Male flowers with six, nine or twelve stamens. Female flowers with three sessile stigmas, and the stamens represented by a rudimentary ring.

The stems in this genus are very slender, ringed, nearly smooth or with a few scattered spines. The leaves are more or less terminal, generally few in number, pinnate or entire, with the bases of the petioles much sheathing and very spiny. The spathe is also clothed with spines. The spadices are simple or simply branched and grow from the axils of the leaves. The fruit is small and round, and the outer pulp is often subacid and eatable.

This very extensive genus of small prickly Palms contains forty-six species, all natives of South America. Two species described by Martius are here figured, together with six others apparently new, but as it may be impossible to identify those not seen in fruit, some of them have been left unnamed.

The species here figured are all from the Rio Negro, where I began studying them, and are sufficient to give an idea of their general characteristics and aspect.

Pl. XXVIII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS PECTINATA. Ht. 8 Ft.
]

PLATE XXVIII.
BACTRIS PECTINATA, _Martius_.

Iú, _Lingoa Geral_.

The stem of this species is from six to ten feet high, very slender, strongly ringed or jointed and smooth, but all other parts of the plant, the petioles, sheaths, spathes, &c., are prickly. The leaves are regularly pinnate, with the leaflets long, narrow, pointed and hairy beneath. The long sheathing bases of the petioles are persistent, covering the stem often half way down to the ground.

The spadices grow from among the persistent leaf-sheaths; they are very small, simple or two- or three-branched, and have a small persistent fibrous spathe. The fruit is very small and globular and of a red colour, and is not eatable.

This very hairy and prickly little palm grows in the sandy Catinga forest of the Upper Rio Negro and in the most exposed localities. It seems to agree well with the _B. pectinata_ of Martius.

A fruit is shown on the Plate of the natural size.

Pl. XXIX.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS —— Ht. 12 Ft.
]

PLATE XXIX.
BACTRIS ——, n. sp.

Marayarána, _Lingoa Geral_.

The stem of this species is about an inch in diameter and ten or twelve feet high, thickly set with flat black spines disposed in rings. The leaves are rather large and irregularly pinnate, the leaflets being in little groups of two or four, standing out at various angles from the midrib, the groups themselves being set alternately along it. The leaflets are elongate and have the midrib produced in a bristly point, and the terminal pair are not larger than the rest. The petioles are armed with flat whitish spines, which on the long sheathing bases become black.

I met with this palm only once, growing in the dry virgin forest on the banks of the Rio Negro. Though it had neither flowers nor fruit at the time, yet its habit is so peculiar as to leave little doubt of its being a new species. It seems most nearly allied to the _Bactris macroacantha_ of Martius.

Pl. XXX.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS ELATIOR. Ht. 20 Ft.
]

PLATE XXX.
BACTRIS ELATIOR, n. sp.

Marayarána, _Lingoa Geral_.

This is a tall and elegant species. The stem is from fifteen to twenty feet high and about one inch in diameter, with a few scattered groups of small spines. The leaves are regularly pinnate, with broad leaflets narrowed at the base and ending in a lengthened point, the terminal pair being rather broader. The petioles and their sheathing bases are covered with broad, flat, whitish spines.

The spadices grow from among the lower leaves on long stalks and are simply branched and drooping. The spathes are elongate fusiform and spiny, and are persistent. The fruit is small and globular.

This very graceful palm grows in the moist part of the virgin forest of the Upper Rio Negro, where I found it on the banks of small forest streams; and it seems quite distinct from any of the very numerous species described by Martius.

Pl. XXXI.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS —— Ht. 20 Ft.
]

PLATE XXXI.
BACTRIS ——, n. sp.

Native name unknown.

The stem of this curious palm is from twenty to twenty-five feet high and very slender. It is marked with slightly sunk rings and has a few scattered spines. The leaves are rather small, few in number and terminal. The leaflets are rigid, narrowed at the base, widest near the end and suddenly tapering to a point. They are arranged in groups of three or four at short intervals along the midrib, from which they stand out at different angles. The petioles and their sheathing bases are thickly set with slender, flattish, black spines generally pointing downwards.

This species was only found once, growing in the “gapó” or flooded lands of the Upper Rio Negro, and at the time had neither flowers nor fruit. The form and arrangement of the leaflets are so peculiar that it cannot be confounded with any species yet described.

A leaflet is represented of a larger size to show the peculiar form.

Pl. XXXII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS MACROCARPA. Ht. 10 Ft.
]

PLATE XXXII.
BACTRIS MACROCARPA, n. sp.

Iú, _Lingoa Geral_.

This species has the stem about an inch in diameter and ten or twelve feet high, distinctly jointed, smooth and reed-like, but with a few spines in small groups at the joints. The leaves are terminal, of moderate size and rather interruptedly pinnate. The leaflets often grow in pairs and are broad, narrowed at the base and have the midrib produced at the point, the terminal pair being the largest. The petioles and sheaths are thickly set with whitish flat prickles.

The spadices are small, five- or six-branched, and rather long-stalked. The spathe is small, smooth and persistent. The fruit is oval, with a produced apex, large in proportion to the tree, of a reddish or yellowish olive colour, and not eatable, the outer covering being dry and woolly.

The smooth reed-like stem of this species resembles those of the Geonomas, and it is also remarkable for the large size of its fruit. It grows on the dry sandy soil of the Catinga forests of the Upper Rio Negro. It seems most nearly allied to _B. mitis_ of Martius.

A fruit is represented on the Plate of the natural size, and a leaflet reduced one-fourth to show the peculiar form.

Pl. XXXIII.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS TENUIS. Ht. 6 Ft.
]

PLATE XXXIII.
BACTRIS TENUIS, n. sp.

Iú, _Lingoa Geral_.

In this species the stem is not thicker than a goose quill, distinctly jointed and smooth. The leaves are terminal, four or five in number, and rather irregularly pinnate. The leaflets are elongate and acute, with produced points, four or five in number, on each side of the midrib, the terminal pair being the broadest. The petioles and their sheathing bases are covered with small, flat, black spines.

The spadices grow from below the leaves and are very small and unbranched. The spathes are fusiform, erect, persistent and smooth. The fruit is small, globose, and of a red colour.

This is one of the smallest of Palms, and in every part of its structure offers a striking contrast to the great _Mauritia_ and other giants of the family. While they possess huge columnar stems a hundred feet in height and two feet in diameter, this has but a slender stalk the thickness of a quill; and while their fruit bunches are the largest in the vegetable kingdom, the whole spadix of this species is smaller than a bunch of currants.

It is allied to _B. cuspidata_ and to _B. fissifrons_ of Martius, but seems sufficiently distinct from either of them. It grows exposed to the sun in the sandy Catinga forests of the Upper Rio Negro.

An entire spadix with fruit is represented on the Plate, of the natural size.

Pl. XXXIV.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS SIMPLICIFRONS. Ht. 6 Ft.
]

PLATE XXXIV.
BACTRIS SIMPLICIFRONS, _Martius_.

Iú, _Lingoa Geral_.

The stem of this little palm resembles in size and appearance that of _B. tenuis_. The leaves are five or six in number, terminal, and consist of a single broad bifid leaflet, or more properly a pair of opposite terminal leaflets. The petioles and their sheathing bases are thickly set with spines.

The spadices grow from below the leaves; they are unbranched and bend downwards, and the spathes are elongate, small, erect or horizontal, smooth and persistent.

This pretty little species seems identical with one described by Martius under the name of _Bactris simplicifrons_. It is not uncommon in the dry Catinga forests of the Upper Rio Negro.

BACTRIS MARAJA, _Martius_.

Marajá, _Lingoa Geral_.

This is a palm rather larger than most others of the genus, and inhabiting the flooded banks of the Amazon.