■_ -a J ^ 



144 DR. B. SPRUCE OS [Bacfris. 



in some species the cilia exist only as a pencil at the leaf- points, 

 although this pencil (at least) is never wanting to any Bactris, 

 and exists in no Geonoma, Then the spathes arc much firmer, 

 and persist after the fruit; the inner spathe exceeds in length 

 the entire spadix, and either overarches it or stands out above it 

 at a sharp angle ; whereas in Geonoma the spathes rarely ex- 

 ceed the peduncle alone, and from their more fragile nature 

 they usually break up and full away as the flowers opeu, so 

 that often not even a fragment of them remains when the fruit 



is ripe. 



A notable feature of Bactris is the peduncle of the spadix 

 bursting through about the middle of the leaf-sheath, and there 

 so sharply decurved that the spadix, even when only in flower? 

 is either pendulous or at least horizontal. 



The striae of the thin leaf-sheaths are repeated on the epi- 

 carp of the drupes ; and the endocarp is beset with ascending 

 pointed processes, which penetrate the pulpy mesocarp and, on 

 examination, are found to be true prickles, springing from the 

 veins of the endocarp, precisely like those of the leaves and 

 leaf- sheaths. The drupes of nearly every species are tipped 

 w^ith a short rostellum (the persistent style) which is more or 

 less trigonous, and often tubular. 



In the forests of the Amazon, tlie Bactrides are almost as 

 numerous as the Geonomas, and, along with them, form no 

 inconsiderable portion of the undergrowth. They are found in 

 all kinds of situations, wet and dry, but prefer recent forests 

 to primitive. The young woods that speedily clothe deserted 

 clearings are particularly liable to get infested with prickly and 

 bristly plants, among which predominate Bactrides, Astrocari/(JP, 

 Mimosce, Sclerice (Cut-grasses), and even sometimes prickly Tree 

 Ferns {AlsopUla infesta^ e. g,), and combine into almost impene- 

 trable thickets. 



CONSPECTUS SPECIERUM INFRA DESCRIPTARUM. 



§ 1. Isochlamys. 



riorum fcemineorum calyx et corolla sub^equilonga, pergnminea vel 

 subcoriacea, glabra, ovoideo-urceolata ore tridentata, fructu per- 

 sistentia plus minus patula, trilida partitave. Pahiia humiles tenues 

 plenonqtie inermes microcarjite. Folia mnpUcia bifurca^ rarissime pin- 

 7wiviecta. ^padices siiuplices, Spathoi semper inermes. 



1. B. BRFA'iFOMA, sp. u. Palmfl inermis vel ad foliorum vairiuas de- 



