Pi ILORTUS JAMAICENS-I4 UMaSS^r/ 



PRICKLY- POLE. COCOS. 



Cl. 25,Palvue Monoccia hexandria. Nat. or. Palmar. 

 Gen. char. See Cocoa-Nut,, vol. \,p. GGS. 



CUINEENSIS. GUINEA. 



J*ahna spmosa minor caddOcegTacili, frudtu pnnufcrnn, minima, rtibrc. 

 Sloane, v. 2, p. 121. J'itiius ivjcrnc vaginantibus, cakdice tcreki 

 aculeatissintOyfructuminori. Browne; p. 343. 



The whole spiny.; spines bristle-shaped ; fronds distant ;-root creeping. 



Root knotty, round, thicker irthan tlie .trunk,' short, horizontally bent in directly 

 below 1 he surface, creeping, and presently putting out another trunk, so as to make a 

 thicket, whilst it fixes, ksejt firmly in the soil by slender fibrous roots. Trunk erecr, 

 armed with very numerous prickles, and furnished with some semi-lacerate withering 

 stipes, The bark is brownish. Leaves sub-frondose, few, clasping at the'base and 

 pinnate; rib prickly ; leaflets. en sj form,. acuminate, shining, flat, very slightly folded 

 Back at the base, .secrate-priekly, unarmed, or with a-fe-w prickles only on both sides, 

 commonly alternate, sometimes opposite, inconstant in number. Spathes axillary, 

 solitary, spreading, permanent a long time after the ripeniRg of the fruits, so that two 

 or three withered leaves are frequently seen below the frond, with a gpathe and spadix 

 in then axils. ["'lowers with a veiy slight tinge of yellow, and without scent. Jacguin. 

 Calyx sometimes three- leaved; leaflets lanceolate-acuminate,- many times smaller than 

 the petals; corolla triquetrous, frequently .three-parted almost to the base, like a 

 three-petaled corolla. Sw. Fruits dark purple, the size of a common cherry, con- 

 taining an acid juice, of which the Americans make a sort of wine; they are eatable 

 but not pleasant. Jacguin. 



Thirty or forty of these grow always together, having each a swelling at bottom, 

 rnade up of interwoven or matted thongs ; the stem is forty feet high and only four or 

 five inches in diameter, thick beset with long prickles : the leaves grow like those of 

 the cocoa-nut, but are longer in proportion, greener, and thick beset with prickles. 

 The fruit is bigger than the largest pea; having a red skin, covering a sweet .pulp, 

 which. incloses a hard white kernel. Negroes travelling very carefully avoid places 

 where they grow, because of tire many prickles that fall from them. Shane. 

 This .slender tree is very common in the inland woods of Jamaica, and supplies the wild 

 hogs with abundance of food, when its berries are in season. 'It is seldom above four 

 and a half inches in diameter, though it generally rises to the height of twelve or fifteen 

 feet ; but both the leaves and flowers are disposed like those of the cabbage-tree. The 

 outward part of the trunk is extremely hard and elastic, and looks much like whalebone ; 

 it is very fit for bows and rammers. Broxvnc. The fruit of this tree is said to be ex- 

 cellent in broth, and pigeons feed upon it. Barbam says, " It is with this prickly 

 palm that the Indians arm their arrows, being as hard as iron : The arrow itself is the 

 llag of a sugar or wild cane, that grows out of the middle and top of the cane, being 

 light, straight, nd smooth as a dragon-blood cane. Of this they take about four or 

 five feet, and, at the end, they put a small sharp spike, of about a foot long, of this 

 prickly palm, in which they make nicks to lay their poison in, and beard it to hinder 

 .' being d*awn out from the wounded part." 



See Cocoa-Nut and Macaw. 



FRICKLY 



