176 DR. R. SPRUCE ON [PJij/telepltas. 



small species, fruiting sometimes with no stem at all, althougli 

 well-grown plants have a slender inclined stem no thicker than 

 the arm, reaching 10 feet high, and spirally areolate wdth the deep 

 leaf-scars. The fruits are ahout the size of a child's head, and so 

 much resemble externally the fruits of some Anonas, that the 

 Peruvians call them "Anon de Palma ; " but the pahn itself is 

 called " Tarina." The thick muricated rind is reddish within, 

 and, although tough, may be eaten, having a flavour of melon or 

 mouldy cheese. The albumen of the unripe seeds is drunk while 

 still watery, or eaten when it becomes fleshy, the taste being 

 something like that of the cocoa-nut in the same immature states 5 

 but when quite ripe, it is so hard and ivory-like as to defy the 

 teeth of any animal. 



I regret that an accident deprived me of the means of drawing 

 up a botanical description of this species. On my voyage up the 

 Huallaga in May 1855, 1 gathered one morning some fully formed 

 fruits of Tarina, and, as they were infested by stinging ants, I laid 

 them near the fire, where our breakfast was being cooked, to dis- 

 perse the ants, and then plunged into the forest in quest of other 

 objects. During my absence the Indians, not knowing I wanted 

 to preserve the fruits, struck their cutlasses into them, and finding 

 the seeds still tender enough to be eaten, munched them all up, and 

 thus destroyed my specimens. I never again saw the Yarina in good 

 condition, except when I and my attendants were already laden with 

 specimens of other plants ; and I have preserved no note on the 

 leaves, save that they are equably pinnate and have a long petiole ; 

 whereas in the two species I shall have to describe the leaves are pin- 

 nate down to the very base, so that there is no proper petiole at all. 

 By its smaller size, and petiolate leaves^ this species is in fact readily 

 distinguished ; and I have no doubt of its being the Phytelephas mi- 

 crocarpa very briefly characterized by Euiz and Pavon (Syst. Veg. 

 301); for I have traced it a long way up the Huallaga, bearing 

 everywhere the same native name, and the stations given for it by 

 those authors, " in Pozuzo et Pampa-hermosa," are both of them be- 

 tween the rivers Ucayali and Huallaga, Pozuzo being on the small 

 river Pachitea. One of the two Ivory Palms found by Mr. Chand- 

 less in the same region, in his late exploration of the river Puru9» 

 seems to be the Yarina. I have seen this Palm also northw^ard 

 of the Amazon, on the river Pastasa, and especially on its tribu- 

 tary, the Bombonasa, where it abounds and, in company with a 

 much lofter Palm (^Iriartea ventricosa)^ forms little groves with 

 scarcely any admixture of other plants. 



