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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
Pl. XXX.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
BACTRIS ELATIOR. Ht. 20 Ft.
]
PLATE XXX.
BACTRIS ELATIOR, n. sp.
Marayarána, _Lingoa Geral_.