Part 14

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.