DE. B. SPRUCE 0]S" EQUATORIAL- AMERICAN PALMS. 81 



Orinoco, is' an undoubted native ; for it belongs to a genus 



{Bactris) unknown out of Tropical America. It is the Bactris 



Gasipaes of Humboldt andBonpland (Nov. Gen, i. p. 302, t. 700), 

 but better known by Martius's name, Guiliehnia speciosa (Palm. 



82, t. 66, 67), an untenable name, as it seems to me; for Guili* 

 elmia is undistinguisbable as a genus from Bactris, and "5^(5- 

 ciosa'^^ is not the original specific name. Be this as it may, the 

 palm is well known by its Brazilian name of " Popunha,'* and as 

 the " Peach Palm " of Humboldt, whose vivid description of it, as 

 he saw it growing at San Fernando de Atabapo, will be familiar 

 to most readers. 



The clustered stems of the Peach Palm grow to 60 or even 90 

 feet high, and are thickly armed with long prickles. The nume- 

 rous curling and drooping leaves rarely exceed 7 feet, and they 

 have from fifty to sixty leaflets on each side, aggregate by threes and 

 fours and pointing in all directions. The fruits are massed into 

 large pendulous corymbs ; and if from their size and vivid colours 

 of yellow and red they may be likened to a well-ripcncd peach, 

 in shape they more resemble a hen's egg, although usually rather 

 more conical. The thick firm flesh is mealy when cooked, something 

 between a potato and a chestnut in flavour, and superior to either. 

 A seedless variety is common ; but the fruits are much smaller and 

 contain no more edible matter than those that have a stone (or 



endocarp) at the centre. 



Such is the Peach Palm ; and now as to its origin. I first saw 

 a few plants of it at Manaos, within the mouth of the Eio Negro ; 

 and on ascending towards the head-waters of that river, and espe- 

 cially on its tributaries the Uaupes and Casiquiari, I saw it grow- 

 ing abundantly in every Indian village — as also on the Atabapo, 

 and on the Orinoco itself above the cataracts. At San Fernando 

 Humboldt heard it called "Pirijao" and " Pihiguao ;" but the 

 Venezuelans now write and pronounce " Pijiguao.'* I tried in 

 vain to find a root for this name in any of the native languages ; 

 and when I asked the people where they supposed the palm had 

 originally come from, they pointed westward and said, " From the 

 Cordilleras ; " and I got a similar answer from the natives of the 



TJaupes. 



When at length I reached those Cordilleras, and travelled 

 along their eastern foot from 7^ S. latitude to the equator, I founds 

 indeed, the Peach Palm very abundant, but still only in the neigh- 

 bourhood of habitations, and alwavs a cultivated plant. If, how- 



LINN. PROC. — BOTAl^T, VOL. XI. 



O 



