Palms of Puerto Rico 565 



in habit is also evidently correlated with the fact that the leaf- 

 bases do not become deeply gibbous and obliquely inclined from 

 the trunk as in Curima but remain closely sheathing. Moreover, 

 the upper side of the leaf-stalk which in the Puerto Rico palm is 

 deeply channeled and has lateral corners sharp or torn into fibers 

 nearly to the insertion of the lowest pinnae is in the conservatory 

 species nearly cylindrical for a long distance below the pinnae, 

 and has long spines on the upper side as well as on the lower. 

 It is as though the ligule were located in Curima near the inser- 



cary 



tion of the lowest pinnae while in the other form it remains close 

 to the trunk, with a cylindrical section intercalated to reach to 

 where the pinnae begin. Apparently we are dealing with still 

 another generic group for which the name Tilmia would not 

 be inappropriate in allusion to the shorn and disheveled appearance 

 which it shares with Curima. The species studied are Tilmia 

 Otaefolia (Martinezia caryotaefolia H.B.K. Nov. Gen. etSp. i: 305. 

 pi. 6 99 ) in the National Botanic Garden and T. disticha {Martinezia 



disticha Linden, Cat. 32. 1875). 



The seeds of Tilma caryotaefolia are like those of Curima, but 

 considerably larger, rounder, and much smoother. The foramina 

 are peripheral, but are much smaller and more shallow, those of 

 Curima being surrounded, as it were, by a prominent rim which 

 acids somewhat to the apparent width of the seed. In both genera 

 the nuts are unsymmetrical, the side which has the largest foramen 

 being distinctly larger than the others and in Curima the irregularly 

 pitted sculpture is coarser. 



ACROCOMIA Martius, Hist. Nat. Palm. 2 : 66 

 A genus of palms distributed through tropical America from 

 Mexico to Cuba and Paraguay. All the species are of stocky, 

 compact growth, with a dense crown of numerous leaves. The 

 trunk and the leaf-stalks are usually armed with strong, sharp 

 spines, sometimes several inches long. 



Although totally different on close inspection this genus has in 

 Puerto Rico a superficial resemblance to the royal palm, which 

 often deceives travelers. The similarity lies mostly in the two facts 

 that both the royal and corozo palms are more robust and stiffly 

 erect than the cocoanut, and that the leaf-divisions instead of lying 



