98 DR. R. SPRUCE ON [GeoTioma. 



Geonoma, Willd. 



The humble but graceful palms composing this genus often 

 grow beneath %lq shade of the Mauritias, Attaleas, and other 

 lofty palms, and bear about the same relation to them as the 

 Hazels of our European woods do to the giant Oaks and other 

 cupuliferous trees about whose base they love to cluster; but they 

 grow also along with trees of all orders, and are not entirely ab- 

 sent from any class of forest, although perhaps less frequent in 

 deeply inundated woods ; and in open plains they are never 



found. 



Many of the species afford excellent thatch, especially those of 

 the group *' Tectorise/' which have long simple forked leaves, 

 whereof the type is O, haculifera^ a species abounding in damp 

 submaritime forests of Amazonia and Gruayana. These leaves, 



known as " Ubim " to the dwellers on the Amazon, *' Dimiti on 

 the Casiquiari and Eio Negro, " Swallow-tail" to the English co- 

 lonists in Honduras, and by many other local appellations, are 

 usually fastened (to the number of eight or ten) on a lath, so as to 

 widely overlap each, other, and thus form a sort of long shingle. 

 When exposed to atmospheric influences, they bleacli almost white, 

 but do not shrivel or curl in the least ; so that a roof thatched 

 with TJbIm looks very neat, keeps out the rain perfectly, and lasts 

 a long time. The species of Geonoma with divided leaves are 

 known as " Ubim-rana," or Palso Ublm, and are rarely used as 

 thatch, although they occasionally serve for packing salt fish and 

 other products of the rivers and forests. 



"Walking-canes are often made of the stems, but they have the 

 defect of being rarely perfectly straight, I have never seen the 

 fruit of any species eaten, the mesocarp being thin and gritty, and 

 the kernel hard and tasteless ; but a species with edible fruit has 

 been found by Wendland in Central America. 



All that I can at present say of the geographical distribution 

 of the Geonom<B is that they abound in the forests of the plain all 

 the way from the northern to the southern tropic. In the Peru- 

 vian and Equatorial Andes they exist chiefly about the base of the 

 mountains, perhaps not climbing higher than 4000 feet ; but in 

 the highlands of New Granada and Mexico there are species which 

 ascend to a much greater elevation. 



Stems. — The stems arise from a subterraneous globose rhizome 

 that sends out stout horizontal roots, and usually reach a height 



