PALM TREES OF THE AMAZON 



AND THEIR USES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



X ALMS are endogenous or ingrowing plants, belonging 

 to the same great division of the Vegetable Kingdom 

 as the Grasses, Bamboos, Lilies and Pineapples, and 

 not to that which contains all our English forest trees. 

 They are perennial, not annual like most of the above- 

 named plants, and probably reach a great age. Their 

 stems jtre simple or very rarely forked, slender, erect, 

 and cylindrical, not tapering as in most other trees ; 

 they are hardest on the outside, and are marked more or 

 less distinctly with scars or rings, marking the situation 

 of the fallen leaves. 



The leaves are generally terminal, forming a bunch 

 or head at the summit of the tree ; they are of very 

 large size, have long petioles or footstalks, and are 

 alternately placed on the stem. In shape they are 

 pinnate or flabellate, or rarely simple, sheathing at the 

 base, without stipules ; and they have a plicate verna- 

 tion, or are folded up lengthways before they open. 

 The margins of the sheathing bases of the leaf-stalks 



