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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
[Illustration:
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.
It produces large clusters of fruit resembling small black grapes, and
having a thin pulp of an agreeable subacid flavour,—a peculiarity not
found in the fruit of any other American palm that I am acquainted with.
The places where it grows are often so deeply flooded that the fruit
hangs close to the surface of the water, and can be plucked while
passing in a canoe.
Dried specimens of the tree and fruit are in the Museum, and young
plants are growing in the Palm House at Kew.
[Illustration:
Pl. XXXV.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
BACTRIS INTEGRIFOLIA. Ht. 9 Ft.
]
PLATE XXXV.
BACTRIS INTEGRIFOLIA, n. sp.
Iú, _Lingoa Geral_.
This beautiful species has the stem hardly so thick as the little
finger, and nine or ten feet high, smooth and distinctly jointed. The
leaves are four or five in number, terminal, entire, three or four times
as long as they are wide, and not very deeply bifid at the end. The
petioles and their sheathing bases are thickly set with long, flat,
black spines.
The spadices are very small, erect and two-branched, growing from among
the persistent sheathing bases below the leaves. The spathes are small,
erect and persistent, clothed with adpressed brown spines. The fruit is
small and globular, and of a black colour.
This palm was found at S. Carlos on the Upper Rio Negro and on the
“Estrada de Javita,” a road through the forest for ten miles, which
connects the river-systems of the Rio Negro and Orinoco, and along which
most of the traffic between Venezuela and Brazil passes. In both cases
it grew in the shady virgin forest.
Genus GUILIELMA, _Martius_.
Male and female flowers mixed in the same spadix, bracteate. Spathe
double; exterior bifid; interior complete, woody. Male flowers with six
stamens and a rudimentary pistil. Female flowers with three sessile
stigmas, but with no rudiments of stamens.
The stems are lofty, rather slender, and armed with dense black
cylindrical spines disposed in regular rings. The leaves are terminal
and pinnate, but in the young plants entire, and the petioles are very
spiny. The spadices are simply branched, growing from beneath the
leaves, and the fruits are large, ovate, fleshy or mealy and eatable.
Three species only of this genus are known, inhabiting the lower
mountain ranges of Peru and New Granada. They are lofty and conspicuous
Palms with a remarkably handsome crown of foliage. One species only is
found in the Amazon district, in all parts of which it is commonly
cultivated.
[Illustration:
Pl. XXXVI.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
GUILIELMA SPECIOSA. Ht. 60 Ft.
]
PLATE XXXVI.
GUILIELMA SPECIOSA, _Martius_.
Pupúnha, _Lingoa Geral_.
Pirijao, _Indians of Venezuela_, Humboldt.
“The Peach Palm.”
This most picturesque and elegant palm has the stem slender,
cylindrical, and thickly set with long needle-shaped spines disposed in
rings or bands. It reaches sixty feet in height, and grows quite erect,
though in exposed situations it becomes curved and waving. The leaves
are very numerous, terminal, pinnate and drooping, forming a nearly
spherical crown to the stem; and the leaflets growing out from the
midrib in various directions, and being themselves curled or waved, give
the whole mass of foliage a singularly plumy appearance. The young
plants have the leaves entire like those of the Bussú, but as the age of
the tree increases they break up into regular narrow leaflets.
The spadices grow from beneath the leaves, and are small, simply
branched and drooping. The spathes are ventricose, woody and persistent,
curving over the spadix.
The fruit is about the size of an apricot, of a triangular oval shape,
and fine reddish-yellow colour. In most instances the seed is abortive,
the whole fruit being a farinaceous mass. Occasionally, however, fruits
are found containing the perfect stony seed, and they are then nearly
double the usual size. This production of undeveloped fruits may be
partly due to change of soil and climate, for the tree is not found wild
in the Amazon district, but is invariably planted near the Indians’
houses. In their villages many hundreds of these trees may often be
seen, adding to the beauty of the landscape, and supplying the
inhabitants with an abundance of wholesome food. In fact it here takes
the place of the cocoa-nut in the East, and is almost as much esteemed.
As the stems are so spiny, it is impossible to climb up them to procure
the fruit in the ordinary way. The Indians therefore construct rough
stages up the sides of the trees, or form rude ladders by securing cross
pieces between two of them, by which they mount so high as to be able to
pull down the bunches of fruit with hooked poles.
The fruits are eaten either boiled or roasted, when they somewhat
resemble Spanish chestnuts, but have a peculiar oily flavour. They are
also ground up into a kind of flour, and made into cakes which are
roasted like cassava bread; or the meal is fermented in water and forms
a subacid creamy liquid. Parrots, macaws and many other fruit-eating
birds devour them, and tame monkeys eat them greedily, though the wild
ones cannot climb the spiny stems to obtain them.
The wood of this tree when old and black is exceedingly hard, turning
the edge of any ordinary axe. When descending the River Uaupes in April
1852, I had a number of parrots whose objections to any restraint upon
their liberty caused me much trouble. Their first cage was of wicker,
and in a couple of hours they had all set themselves at liberty. Then
tough green wood was tried, but the same time only was required to gnaw
that through. Thick bars of deal were bitten through in a single night,
so I then tried the hard wood of the Pashiúba. This checked them for a
short time, but in less than a week by continual gnawing they had
chipped these away and again escaped. I now began to despair; no iron
for bars was to be procured and my resources were exhausted, when one of
my Indians recommended me to try Pupúnha, assuring me that if their
beaks were of iron they could not bite that. A tree was accordingly cut
down and bars made from it, and I had the satisfaction of seeing that
their most persevering efforts now made little impression.
The very sharp needle-like spines of this tree are used by some tribes
to puncture the skin, in order to produce the tattooed marks with which
they decorate various parts of their bodies. Soot produced from burning
pitch rubbed into the wounds is said to make the indelible bluish stain
which these markings present.
This palm appears to be indigenous to the countries near the Andes. On
the Amazon and Rio Negro it is never found wild. It is mentioned by
Humboldt as having a smooth polished stem, which is a mistake.
Very fine specimens of this tree are growing in the great Palm House at
Kew.
Plate III. fig. 4. represents a fruit of the natural size.
Genus ACROCOMIA, _Martius_.
Female flowers in the inner, male flowers in the outer part of the same
spadix. Spathe complete, woody. Male flowers with six stamens and a
rudimentary pistil. Female flowers with a short style and three stigmas,
and a ring of abortive stamens.
The stems of these Palms are tall, strong, and more or less prickly. The
leaves are large, pinnate, much drooping, and forming a dense spherical
head of foliage. The leaflets are linear, and with the petioles are very
prickly. The spadix is simply branched, and the fruit is round or oval,
of an olive-green colour, and has a firm fleshy outer covering, which is
often eaten.
Eight species of this genus are known, inhabiting various parts of South
America, but more particularly Brazil. One or perhaps two species are
found at Pará, but none on the Upper Amazon, where the alluvial soil and
dense forests are unsuited to their growth.
[Illustration:
Pl. XXXVII.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
ACROCOMIA LASIOSPATHA. Ht. 40 Ft.
]
PLATE XXXVII.
ACROCOMIA LASIOSPATHA, _Martius_.
Mucujá, _Lingoa Geral_.
The stem of this tree is about forty feet high, strong, smooth and
ringed. The leaves are rather large, terminal and drooping. The leaflets
are long and narrow, and spread irregularly from the midrib, every part
of which is very spiny. The sheathing bases of the leaf-talks are
persistent on the upper part of the stem, and in young trees clothe it
down to the ground.
The spadices grow from among the leaves, erect or somewhat drooping, and
are simply branched. The spathes are woody, persistent and clothed with
spines. The fruit is the size of an apricot, globular, and of a greenish
olive colour, and has a thin layer of firm edible pulp of an orange
colour covering the seed.
This species is common in the neighbourhood of Pará, where its nearly
globular crown of drooping feathery leaves is very ornamental. The
fruit, though oily and bitter, is very much esteemed and is eagerly
sought after. It grows on dry soil about Pará and the Lower Amazon, but
it is quite unknown in the interior.
Several young plants of this and a species closely resembling it, the
_A. sclerocarpa_, are growing in the Palm House at Kew, and in the
Museum at the same place are specimens of the stem and fruit sent by Mr.
Bates and myself from Pará.
Martius mentions the _A. sclerocarpa_ only as being found at Pará, but
his description of the other species agrees best with the tree here
figured. The two, however, seem very closely allied, if they are really
distinct species.
A fruit is represented on the Plate of the natural size.
Genus ASTROCARYUM, _Meyer_.
Female flowers few in number, situated beneath the males on the same
spadix. Spathe complete, woody. Male flowers with six stamens and a
rudimentary pistil. Female flowers with three stigmas and a rudimentary
ring of stamens.
In this genus the stems are generally lofty and thickly set with rings
of spines, but some species are stemless. The leaves are large and
pinnate, the leaflets elongate and linear, and as well as the petioles
very prickly. The spadices are simply branched, and the fruits are ovate
or globose, with a fibrous or fleshy covering, sometimes eatable.
Sixteen species of these Palms are known, inhabiting Mexico, Brazil, and
other parts of South America, but not extending higher up the mountains
than 2000 feet above the sea. They have rather a repulsive aspect, from
almost every part,—stem, leaves, fruit-stalk and spathe, being armed
with acute spines in some cases a foot long.
[Illustration:
Pl. XXXVIII.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
ASTROCARYUM MURUMURU. Ht. 20 Ft.
]
PLATE XXXVIII.
ASTROCARYUM MURUMURÚ, _Martius_.
Murumurú, _Lingoa Geral_.
This palm has the stem from eight to twelve feet high, irregularly
ringed, and armed with long scattered black spines. The leaves are
terminal and of moderate size, regularly pinnate, the leaflets spreading
out uniformly in one plane, elongate, acute, with the terminal pair
shorter and broader. The petioles and sheathing bases are thickly
covered with long black spines generally directed downwards, and often
eight inches long.
The spadices grow from among the leaves and are simply branched and
spiny, erect when in flower, but drooping with the fruit. The spathes
are elongate, splitting open and deciduous. The fruit is of a moderate
size, oval, of a yellowish colour, and with a small quantity of rather
juicy eatable pulp covering the stony seed.
On the Upper Amazon cattle eat the fruits of the Murumurú, wandering
about for days in the forest to procure it. The hard stony seeds pass
through their bodies undigested and become thickly scattered over the
pastures adjoining the houses. They are so hard that it is almost
impossible to break them, except by a very hard blow with a large
hammer. The internal albumen or kernel is also excessively hard, nearly
approaching to vegetable ivory. Yet pigs are very fond of these little
cocoa-nuts, and on one estate on the Upper Amazon where I was staying,
they had scarcely anything else to eat during a part of the year but
those which had passed through the stomachs of the cows. They might
constantly be seen cracking the shell with their powerful jaws, and
grinding up the hard kernels, on which the teeth of few other animals
could make any impression. They not only existed on this food, but in
some cases got actually fat upon it. The black vultures (_Cathartes_)
occasionally eat the outer covering of this and other palm fruits, when
hard-pushed for food.
This tree grows on the tide-flooded lands of the Lower Amazon and on the
margins of the rivers and gapós of the Upper Amazon, though it is
possible that the two may be distinct species. The specimen figured is
from near Pará. There are living plants in the Palm House at the Royal
Kew Gardens.
A portion of a leaf is enlarged to show the spines, and a fruit is
represented of the natural size.
[Illustration:
Pl. XXXIX.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
ASTROCARYUM GYNACANTHUM. Ht. 15 Ft.
]
PLATE XXXIX.
ASTROCARYUM GYNACANTHUM, _Martius_.
Mumbáca, _Lingoa Geral_.
This species has a rather slender stem about fifteen feet high, covered
with long, flat, black spines, arranged in regular rings and pointing
downwards. The leaves are terminal, rather large and pinnate. The
leaflets spread regularly in one plane, and are elongate and acute, the
terminal pair being rather shorter and broader. The bases of the
petioles are broadly sheathing, and are all densely spiny.
The spadices grow from the bases of the lower leaves, and are erect when
in flower, but hang down with the ripe fruit, which grows in a dense
cluster at the end of the long stalk which is very spiny, as is also the
elongate persistent spathe. The fruit is small, ovate, of a red colour
and not eatable.
This palm grows in the virgin forests of the Upper Rio Negro, and a
nearly allied or perhaps identical species is common about the city of
Pará.
[Illustration:
Pl. XL.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
ASTROCARYUM VULGARE. Ht. 50 Ft.
]
PLATE XL.
ASTROCARYUM VULGARE, _Martius_.
Tucúm, _Lingoa Geral_.
This is a lofty tree, the stem growing to a height of forty or fifty
feet, with a diameter of six or eight inches. It is covered with regular
broad bands or rings of thickly set black spines, with narrow spaces
between them. The leaves are terminal, large and regularly pinnate. The
leaflets are elongate, regularly spreading and drooping. The midrib and
expanded sheaths of the petioles are densely clothed with long, flat,
dusky spines, having a pale expanded margin. The edges of the leaflets
are also armed with fine spines.
The spadix is erect and simply branched, and is often hid among the
foliage. The spathe is persistent, and the fruit is oval, of a greenish
colour and not eatable.
Every part of this palm bristles with sharp spines so as to render it
difficult to handle any portion of it; yet it is of great importance to
the Indians, and in places where it is not indigenous, is cultivated
with care in their mandiocca fields and about their houses, along with
the “Pupúnha” and other fruit trees. Yet they use neither the fruit, the
stem, nor the full-grown leaves. It is only the unopened leaves which
they make use of to manufacture cordage, superior in fineness, strength
and durability to that procured from the _Mauritia flexuosa_. They strip
off the epidermis and prepare it in the same manner as described in the
account of that species, but while the “mirití” is principally used for
hammocks, the “tucúm” serves for bow strings, fishing-nets and other
purposes where fineness, combined with strength, is required. Some of
the tribes on the Upper Amazon, however, make all their hammocks of
“tucúm,” which renders it probable that the _Mauritia flexuosa_ does not
grow there.
The Brazilians of the Rio Negro and Upper Amazon make very beautiful
hammocks of fine “tucúm” thread, knitted by hand into a compact web of
so fine a texture as to occupy two persons three or four months in their
completion. They then sell at about £3 each, and when ornamented with
the feather-work borders, at double that sum. Most of them are sent as
presents to Rio de Janeiro.
Dr. Martius has mistaken the species from which this cordage is
manufactured, stating it to be the “Tucumá,” which, though very nearly
allied, is never used for the purpose. The close resemblance of the
native names is probably what led to the mistake, though they are never
confounded by the Brazilians.
The “tucúm” is found on the “terra firme” or dry forest land of the
Amazon and Rio Negro. It is growing in the Palm House at Kew.
[Illustration:
Pl. XLI.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
ASTROCARYUM TUCUMA. Ht. 40 Ft.
]
PLATE XLI.
ASTROCARYUM TUCUMA, _Martius_.
Tucumá, _Lingoa Geral_.
This palm is from thirty to forty feet in height, and has the stem armed
with narrow rings of black spines. The leaves are terminal, rather large
and regularly pinnate. The leaflets are elongate, linear and much
drooping, and the midribs and petioles are very prickly. The sheathing
bases of the leaf-stalks are very much swollen where they spring from
the stem. The spadix grows erect from among the leaves and is simply
branched. The fruit is nearly globular, of a greenish yellow colour,
with a layer of yellow fleshy pulp covering the stony seed, much
resembling the fruit of the Mucujá and equally esteemed for food by the
Indians.
This species is very nearly allied to the last, but may readily be
distinguished by its globular fruit, more drooping leaflets, less
prickly habit, and the peculiar aspect of its swollen petioles. It is
abundant near Pará, and is also found in the dry virgin forests of the
Upper Amazon and Rio Negro.
There are young living plants in the Palm House of the Royal Botanic
Gardens at Kew.
Plate II. fig. 5. represents a fruit of the natural size.
[Illustration:
Pl. XLII.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
ASTROCARYUM JAUARI Ht. 40 Ft.
]
PLATE XLII.
ASTROCARYUM JAUARI, _Martius_.
Jauarí, _Lingoa Geral_.
The Jauarí has the stem rather slenderer than the Tucumá, but of about
equal height, and armed with regular narrow rings of spines. The leaves
are terminal and of moderate size. The leaflets are long, narrow and
very much drooping, and the midribs and sheaths are thickly covered with
long, flat, black spines.
The spadices are erect, simply branched, and hidden amongst the leaves.
The fruit is small, oval, green, and not eatable.
The rather small dense head of foliage, combined with the prickly habit
of this palm, render it altogether one of the least pleasing of the
family; and the feeling is increased by its abundance in many
localities, extending for miles along the river banks to the exclusion
of any other species. It is moreover one of the least useful among the
larger palms, the only part which is applied to any purpose being the
hard, black, oval seeds, of which the Brazilian ladies of the Upper
Amazon make heads for their lace-making bobbins.