Trunk solitary, to 10 m high or more, 30 cm in diameter, smooth with 

 obscure leaf scars, leaf bases below crown temporarily persistent. Leaves ca 

 23-25 per tree, pinnate with ca 140-260 pinnae in groups of 4-9 and inserted at 

 various angles to the rachis (excepting at the apex); sheath ca. 1 m long; petiole 

 ca 3 m long; rachis ca 7 m long; basal pinnae ca 70-90 X 1.7-2.5 cm; middle 

 pinnae 95- 105 X 4.5-5.0 cm; apical pinnae 40-52 X 1-1.7 cm. Panicle bearing 

 an inner bract ca 1.5 X 0.5 m, brown, outer surface ridged and disintegrating 

 somewhat upon maturity of fruiting panicle; panicle ca 1.5 m long with many 

 rachillae; flowers unisexual, pistillate ca 8 or more congested at the base of 

 rachillae ca 20 cm long. Pistillate flowers ca 5 mm long; 3 sepals, 1 / 3 as long as 

 the petals; 3 petals, ca I 5- 1 / 2 as long as the stamens; stamens 6. Fruits 5-8 cm 

 long, ovoid-oblong with a prominent beak, half enclosed by a brown-Iepidote, 

 glabrescent cupule formed by persistent perianth; exocarp fibrous; mesocarp 

 pulpy, yellow; endocarp hard, mostly 1 -seeded but some 2-3 carpellate; endos- 

 perm white, homogenous, solid. 



Distribution: Colombia, Guyana, Trinidad, French Guiana, Peru, Brazil. 



This is another palm that is social in habit, although not 

 usually found in as pure a stand as some of the others. The most 

 recent treatment of Maximiliana by Glassman (1978 a, b) com- 

 bines all previously described species into one, M. maripa. 



Common Names: "Inaja" (Spanish); "Naxaribo" (Guahibo). 



Uses: The endosperm of the ripe, toasted fruit is an important 

 source of food for the Guahibo. The oil-rich mesocarp is mixed 

 with water and consumed as a beverage. Newly emerging leaves 

 of low growing trees are harvested and used to weave mats and 

 pack baskets. In addition, the seeds of M. maripa, with the 

 epicarp and mesocarp removed are used to cap the end of snuff 



tubes. 



11. Syagrus inajai (Spruce) Beccari, L'Agric. Colon. 10: 467. 

 1916. 



Trunk 10 m tall, 7.5 cm in diameter, smooth, often slightly irregularly 

 swollen. Leaves ca 12 per coma, pinnate; sheath 20 cm; long; petiole 50 cm 

 long; rachis 1.6 cm long, triangular in cross-section and scurfy-brown abax- 

 ially; pinnae 140-146, inserted singly or in groups of 2-4 per side and at 

 various angles to the plane of the leaf; basal pinnae ca 44 - 1 cm; central pinnae 

 ca 45 X 3-3.5 cm; apical pinnae ca 26 X 1.3 cm; midveins prominent and 

 transverse commissures evident between secondary veins. Panicle bearing two 

 bracts, the inner one peduncular ca 1 . 1 m long, brown, ridged, opening along 

 its length and persistent; primary axis ca 75 cm long, brown-scaly; rachillae 

 23-25, each 30 cm or longer; flowers borne in triads of two staminate and one 

 pistillate. Staminate flowers ca 12 mm long. Fruits ca 4 X 3 cm, including 



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