12 PALM TREES 



Natural Order PALMACE^E. 

 Genus Leopoldinia, Martins. 



This genus is characterized by having flowers con- 

 taining stamens or pistils only, intermingled on the 

 same spadix, and by not having a spathe. The male 

 flowers have six stamens and no rudiments of a stigma. 

 The female flowers have three sessile stigmas and rudi- 

 mentary stamens. The spadix is much-branched and 

 decomposed. 



The species are trees of a moderate size without any 

 spines or tubercles, but remarkable for the netted fibres 

 which spring from the margins of the sheathing petioles, 

 and cover the stem half-way down or sometimes even 

 to its base. The leaves are terminal and pinnate, the 

 leaflets spreading out regularly in one plane. There 

 are often three or four spadices on a tree, bearing 

 abundance of small flowers, and ovate compressed fruit, 

 the outer covering of which is fleshy. 



Four species are known, and they are all found in 

 the same limited district near the Rio Negro, some ex- 

 tending to the tributaries of the Orinoco near its 

 source, and one being found south of the Amazon nearly 

 opposite the mouth of the Rio Negro. All however 

 grow on the banks or in the immediate vicinity of black - 

 water streams, which occur more extensively in South 

 America than in any other part of the globe. Two 

 species are described by Martius, one of which is here 

 figured with two others, which are believed to be new. 

 They are not found more than 1000 feet above the level 

 of the sea. 



