BOTANICAL INFORMATION. 128 
bell-pulls, umbrellas, &c., &c.; for the shell (or putamen, f. 4) is of 
great thickness, excessively hard, beautifully mottled with dark and light 
brown, and. capable of taking a high degree of polish. The head of an 
umbrella-handle is represented thus, at f, 5. 
In illustrating these interesting subjects the botanist is necessarily 
greatly aided by merchants and travellers; and in the present instance 
we thankfully acknowledge our obligations to two mercantile friends 
of Glasgow, who have much assisted us by their enquiries and have 
also supplied specimens for the Museum, W. Gourlie and Michael 
Connal, Esqrs. 
The Royal Gardens possess healthy young Palms of this species, but 
it is rare in our stoves; for, strange to say, some of the Plants best 
known in their products (witness the so-called African Oak, exported 
from Sierra Leone, and the so-called Rice-paper of China), are least 
known to botanists and often do not. exist in our living collections. 
Hence it is that, as above observed, we have had recourse to the plates 
of Martius for our figures 1 and 2. The genus to which Attalea 
belongs, is of the Cocoa-nut group, or division, of Palms, and indeed, 
the fruit was first figured by Geertner under the name of Cocos lapidea ; 
afterwards by Targioni Tozzetti it was called Lithocarpus cocciformis ; 
having reference in both cases to the ses hard, almost stony nature 
of the fruit. Martius changed its name 
** Attalea funifera; caudice elato oec erectis phalerato, petio- 
lorum basibus fibroso-fissis, drupis ellipticis." Martius, Palm. P 136. 
t. 95, 96. f. 4. and t. T. f. 1,2. 
The stem or caudex is said to attain a height of from twenty to 
thirty feet, and the leaves or fronds rise to fifteen or twenty feet above 
that. 
Tas. IV. Fig.1. Represents the general appearance of an entire 
tree of Attalea funifera, greatly reduced. 2. Shows the insertion of 
the leaf-stalks and the filamentose margins of their bases, on a some- 
what larger scale. 3. Entire nut, nat. size. 4. Transverse section of 
the same, showing the thick shell or putamen, and the three cells, of 
which one or two frequently prove abortive, nat. size. 5. Exhibits the 
head of an umbrella-handle turned from a Coquilla-nut. 
