heavily only every other year, the total absence of sexual mate- 

 rial leads me to believe that the heat from the abnormally fre- 

 quent savannah fires around "Las Gaviotas" during the previous 

 year had killed most of the developing inflorescences. Accord- 

 ingly, the botanical description has been excerpted from the 

 literature and may not exactly conform to the Llanos population. 

 There are probably only a few good species in this genus, 

 excluding those formerly considered as Mauritiella, a genus 

 recently put into synonomy with Mauritia (Balick, 1981). The 

 true identity of this particular population is uncertain. Dugand 

 (1940) cited it as M.flexuosa, and in a later posthumous edition 

 revised by Reed (Dugand, 1976), called the Vichada population 

 M. minor Burret. Dahlgren (1936) listed M. minor from Floren- 

 cia, Caqueta, but as the Llanos population is in the Orinoco 

 drainage, it is geographically closer to the vast stands of M. 

 flexuosa found in Venezuela (Wessels Boer, 1972). In his study 



W 



m. a 



ences between them are principally in structure of the fruit, 

 which can vary a great deal even within one population. This 

 genus, so important from an economic and ecological stand- 



M 



Maurit 



distribution in tropical South America and Trinidad. 



M 



Uses: The leaves are used for thatch and provide a fiber for 

 weaving. The Guahibo prepare a fermented drink from the 

 fruits. Rafts for fishing are constructed from the dried petioles. 

 Shortly after the trunks of old trees fall, they become infested 

 with weevil larvae which are collected and eaten. 



2. Desmoncus sp. 



Vining palm to 10 m or more; trunk ca 2.5 cm in diameter, flexible, covered 

 with straight, dark brown spines to 2.5 cm long that are triangular in cross 

 section and bulbous at base. Leaves distichously arranged, to 1 m long or 

 more, pinnate; terminal pinnae modified into paired hooks with swollen bases 

 clasping supporting vegetation; rachis with scattered, dark brown curved 

 spines, ca 1 mm long with bulbous bases; pinnae ca 22-32 per leaf, irregularly 



6 



