Desmoncus.] equatoria.l-amertcan palms. 157 



multo lougior, 4^ lineas \onga, coriacea, fere ad basin usque tripartita, 

 petalis ovato-lanceolatis tenuiacuminatis. Stmnina G; filamenta 

 "brevissima subulata supra torum corollas fundum replentem margi- 

 nalia (subperigyna) ; anthera; erectne corollae \ vix eequantes oblongse 

 basi sagittatsB; loculis apice concretis. 



AsTKOCAKTUM, MeyeT. 



Of this genus I have preserved descriptions made on the spot 

 and specimens of but two species, although several more exist in 

 the forests and along the banks of the Amazon. A, Jauari, Mart., 

 is one of the commonest riparial palms ; and its clustered, rather 

 slender but very prickly stems, 30 to 40 feet high, contribute to 

 give a forbidding and monotonous aspect to low, inundated shores, 

 where it often abounds to the exclusion of every other palm, 



A, viilgare^ Mart. ( = '*Tucum"in Brazil, ="Chambira'' in 

 Peru, =" Cumari " in Venezuela), and A. Tucumd^ Mart., are com- 

 mon forest palms, with a stout trunk rarely exceeding GO feet in 

 height. From the cuticle of their fronds (especially of ^. vulgare) 

 are made mats, coarse hats, and the strongest hammocks, fishing- 

 lines and nets known on the Amazon. 



A. Murumuru^ Mart., rarely exceeds'15 feet in height ; but it 

 has the same sort of pinnate leaves, white on the underside, as 

 the two former ; and still more formidable prickles that are often 

 more than half a foot long. It grows, not only in moist sandy 

 flats or hollows of the forest, but on the very banks of the Amazon, 

 and of its white-water tributaries (such as the Huallaga), all the 

 way up to the foot of the Andes. 



A, Munhaca^ Mart., nndi A. gynacantlium^ Mart., are two species 

 of humbler growth, occurring often in some abundance in old 

 clearings, along with prickly Bactrides of similar habit. They 

 well deserve their Tupi name, "Munbaca" (Awakeners !), from 

 the lancet-like flat prickles, 2 inches long, with a fine point and 

 sharp cutting edges, which are capable of inflicting severe wounds 

 on the unwary traveller. I was once run through the upperside 

 of a finger-joint by a prickle of Munhaca, and could make liltle 

 use of that finger for long afterwards ; nay, even after the lapse 

 of 16 years, it is occasionally paralyzed when the other fingers are 

 unaffected. 



The fruits of these two palms have a thin softish pericarp, of 

 an orange colour and sweet taste, which, when quite ripe, splits 



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