58 MR. Б. SPRUCE ON LEOPOLDINIA PIASSABA. 
Amenta terminalia foliis arcte abscondita, e floribus 2-4 constantia ; 
mascula subrariflora, squamis apice subpallidioribus integris aut sub- 
divisis filamentis geminis liberis pallidis et glabris duplo brevioribus, 
antheris rotundatis sat magnis, fuscioribus; feminea ovato-ovalia e 
eapsulis 4-6 composita, in apice ramulorum capituliformi sessilia et 
folis occultata; capsule lineam longe, exacte сопісе, glaberrime, 
testaceo-rufescentes, dorso squama rotundata glaberrima apice infus- 
eata involute, neetario capitato glabro ventrem capsule superante; 
stylus vix conspicuus ; stigmata minima, divaricata. 
S. oreophila et S. secta inter se eodem modo affines sunt ut S. Brayi 
et S. berberifolia ; bene autem distinguuntur non tantum habitu toto 
fruticuli sed etiam foliis et amentis. 
On Leopoldinia Piassaba, Wallace. By Ricard SpEUcr, Esq. 
Communicated by Gzogar BzNTHAM, Esq., V.P.L.S. 
(Read June 16th, 1859.] 
As the palm producing the Piassaba of the Rio Negro—better 
known as that of Pará, from which port it is exported in vast 
quantities to Europe and N. America—has been supposed, for 
want of sufficient data, identical with the Attalea funifera of Mar- 
tius, which furnishes the Piassaba of Bahia, I am desirous of lay- 
ing before the Linnean Society a description of the former, which 
has been correctly referred by Mr. Wallace to the genus Leopol- 
dinia. In proof of this assertion, I need cite only the most pro- 
minent characters: thus, in L. Piassaba Wallace, the male flowers 
have six monadelphous stamens, ad the fruit is a berry with a 
sarcocarp composed of thick interlacing fibres, as in the Leopol- 
dinie described by Martius ; whereas in the genus Attalea, the 
male flowers have from ten to twenty-four free stamens; and the fruit 
is a drupe, with a stony putamen. The fruits of the Piassaba have 
the peculiar dull blood-colour, the compresso-globose form (though 
less compressed than in L. minor), and the gibbosity at the base 
(like that of the fruits of some Sapindi) which characterize all the 
species of Leopoldinia known to me*. The long beard of the 
petioles, extending to the very ground, except in the tallest speci- 
mens, where the lower part decays and falls away, and the crown 
* The fruits of the Leopoldinia are called “ flavo-virentes” by Martius, who, 
it is plain, had not seen them fully ripe. 
