394 



POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



The ubussd (Manicaria saccifera) of the lower Amazons has a kind of 

 frond found, I believe, in no other palm; its leaf in general owX- 

 line is like that of a pinnate leaf — say like that of the coco or 

 date palm — ^but, instead of being divided, like the pinnate frond, 

 it is entire. 



Most of the palms have the pinnate or feather-like leaves. There 

 might seem to be but little opportunity for variation in such fronds, 

 but the variation is really very great, although at first sight it is not 

 striking. Perhaps the largest of the pinnate fronds are those of the 







Fig. 10. (Eiiocarpus di.itichus, a Fan-shaped Palm of the Lower Amazons. 



jupaty (Baphia tcedigera (Fig. 11) which often have a length of 45 

 feet. It might not appeal to one but little familiar with palms, but it is 

 a fact that the attitudes of the fronds and leaflets of a palm tree are 

 thoroughly characteristic. The accompanying diagram (Fig 12) will 

 give an idea of what is meant. The frond of a given species has a cer- 

 tain habit of hanging, and that habit is constant and characteristic 

 of the species. There may be — there always is — some difference of 

 attitude between the young leaves and the old ones, but even these 

 differences are constant. Occasionally, however, one may be a little 

 puzzled at the attitude of the fronds of a palm growing under unusual 



