Euterpe.'] equatohial-ameuican palms. 137 



by Marcgraff, aud " Jissara " by Prince Maximilian) ; and it is only 

 the fruit and the drink prepared from it tliat bear the name of 

 "A§ai" (" Cao-hy," according to Martins). The common species 

 of the submaritime region, with slender usually inclined stems 

 springing several from a root, is probably E, eduUs {Mart, Palm. 

 33, t. 32). But the " Manaca" of Humboldt, which is the com- 

 mon Euterpe of the Eio Negro and Casiquiari, has a solitary stem, 

 slender but firm, tall and straight, aud it is doubtless what 

 Martins has called E. oleracea (Palm. 29, t. 29, 30), In the low- 

 lands at the junction of the Rio Negro and Amazon, I cut down 

 one of these palms, whose trunk measured 71 feet to the base of 

 the cylindrical leaf-sheaths or " cabbage ; " the latter was 4 feet 

 long, and the arched pinnate leaves 8| feet more. I have seen 

 other specimens 10 to 20 feet higher ; and Martins affirms that 

 they sometimes reacb 120 feet. 



Two very pretty Euterpes (a larger one known as " Chonta," 

 aud a smaller one as " Chontilla") grow at the head of the val- 

 leys in the Peruvian Andes, at from 3000 to 6000 feet : and in the 

 Forest of Canelos, at about the same height, tliere is a " Chon- 

 tilla" so slender that walking-canes are made of it ; and its habit 

 is almost that of Geonoma, but the leaves, the edible cabbage, and 

 the fruit, are all of Euterpe. I regret that I have nothing more 

 definite to offer about these interesting palms. 



All the species are notable for their concinnately pinnated 

 leaves, with pendulous pinnae (except in E. caatinga^ where they 

 spread horizontally, and merely droop at the points) — and for the 

 long cylindrical pale-green entire leaf-sheaths, which finally fall 

 away completely, along with the rest of the leaf, so that the stem 

 always appears clean and naked up to the base of the lowest ex- 

 tant leaf. The straight rigid compressed spadices are closely be- 

 set with straight slender white branches, which only bend under 

 the weight of the ripe fruits. 



E. caatinga, Wallace^ PalmSy pi. 8. 



Hah. in svUis humilioribus arenosis " Caatinp;as " dietis totius fluminis 

 Negro ( WaUucey L c. j Spruce, lib. Palm^ 45). — " A^ai-Catinga " Bra- 

 siliensium dicta est, 



Caudex solitarius, e rhizomate conico radicibus strictis constanter supra 

 terram plus minus emergente ortus. 30-50-pedalis, tenuis (diametro 

 brachial!) erectus subflexuosus, annulis dissitis notatus. 



Folia pauca contemporanea 10-pedalia, fere horizcmtaKterpatula, ambitu 

 longf laneeolala obtusa, eoncinne pinnata ; petiolus vagina cylindracca 

 bipedali albo-viridi carnosa constans; rJuwhis 8-pedalis, basi semi- 



