Part 13

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.