206 VEGETABLE IVORY PALM. 
the Magdalena, in the Province of Ocana, at an elevation of 1,000 to 
3,000 feet above the level of the sea ; never growing in hot plains or level 
country. At the season when the flowering takes place, the country is 
said to be scented with its fragrance; and when the fruit is advanced 
all wild animals, especially hogs and turkeys, are extremely fond of it. 
* Enclosing the seeds," observes Mr. Purdie, “is a yellow sweet oil 
pulp, which is collected at the proper season (October) and sold, under 
the name of Pepe del Tagua, for one real a pound, at Ocana. A spoon- 
ful of it, with a little sugar and water, makes the celebrated Chique de 
Tagua, said to be the most delicious beverage of the country.” 
Some idea of the beauty of this Palm may be formed from our 
Tab. VI, lithographed from a drawing made and coloured on the spot 
by Edward Mark, Esq.,* H.M. Consul at Santa Martha, who obligingly 
. communicated it for publication in this Journal. 
The trunk, if trunk it may be called, is reduced to a short, nearly 
horizontal, and partially underground stem, or caudex, in our specimen 
about two feet long, but apparently very variable in size; and from 
the upper end of this arises a most graceful tuft of leaves twenty feet 
long, when fully grown, of a delicate pale green colour and pinnated or 
divided like the plume of a feather. The plant is dicecious, the male 
and female flowers being on separate plants, the male surrounded by an 
entire spatha, while that of the female is torn into shreds as the fruit 
advances to maturity. Both the one and the other spring from the 
inner base or axils of the leaves in clusters, and are thus described by 
Martius :— 
Mase. “ Spadix specie simplex, cylindricus, pedunculo squamis nullis 
instructo, rache floribus densissime obtecta. Flores in prominentiis 
racheos brevibus (ramis decurtatis) arcta glomerati, bractea et calyce 
minimis, sepe delitescentibus.  Bractea ovata concava. Sepala tria: 
duo lateralia majora, bractez similia, tertium postieum illis tectum. 
Stamina numerosa (36) ethoro. Filamenta filiformia, Antherze lineares, 
erectze, fere basifixee, biloculares, connectivo mucronulate. Pollen 
ellipticum, longitudinaliter sulcatum. Foem. Spadix simplex, squamis 
compluribus spiratim dispositis obsessus, vertice flores nonnullos gerens, 
inter squamas absconditos, qui constant pistillo et staminibus numerosis 
illud cingentibus, antheris sterilibus. Ovarium subglobosum, loculis 
* To this hospitable gentleman our Garden owes much of the success that attended 
Mr. Purdie’s Mission to the Magdalena. 
