26 PALM TREES 



somewhat resembles artichoke or parsnep, and is a very 

 good and wholesome vegetable. It may also be eaten 

 raw, cut up and dressed as a salad with oil and vinegar. 

 As, however, to obtain it the tree must be destroyed, 

 it is not much used in Para, except by travellers in the 

 forest who have no particular interest in the preserva- 

 tion of the trees for fruit. The Cabbage Palm of the 

 West Indies is an allied species, and is used for food in 

 the same manner. 



Very fine specimens of this tree may be seen in the 

 great Palm House at Kew, where they grow almost as 

 luxuriantly as in their native forests. 



In the Plate, the unopened spathe, flower- spadix and 

 fruit are represented, as they are often found, together 

 on the same tree. 



Euterpe ? 



On the banks of the Rio Negro there appears to be 

 another species of this genus, closely allied to the 

 Euterpe oleracea, but the stem is thicker and straighter, 

 the whole tree larger, and the leaf-column thicker, and 

 of a clear green colour. It grows on the dry land of 

 the virgin forest, or sometimes within the limits of the 

 winter's inundations. I unfortunately neglected to 

 examine into its peculiar characters, as until my return 

 to Para I had considered it identical with the species 

 so common there. 



I was also informed that in the island of Marajo 

 there is a species or variety having white fruit, but I 

 had no opportunity of examining it. 



