28 PALM TREES 



Genus (Enocakptjs, Martins. 



Male and female flowers on the same spadix, the 

 former most abundant. Spathe double, the interior 

 complete, woody, and deciduous. Flowers without 

 distinct bracts; the male with six stamens and rudi- 

 ments of a pistil, the female with three sessile stigmas, 

 but with no rudiment of stamens. 



These are tall majestic trees with large smooth stems, 

 generally distinctly ringed. The leaves are large, ter- 

 minal, more or less regularly pinnate, and have the 

 bases expanded and clasping the stem, but not forming 

 a sheathing column as in the last genus. The spadices 

 spring from beneath the leaves and are simply branched; 

 the branches are very lax, hanging down vertically 

 except when forced outwards by the ripening fruit. 

 The spathe is very large, fusiform and woody, and falls 

 off the moment the spadix escapes from it. The fruit 

 is small, nearly globular, and has an edible pulpy 

 covering, like that of the genus Euterpe. 



Six species only are known, and all inhabit tropical 

 America, where they prefer dry, slightly elevated lands, 

 none being known to extend more than 1600 feet above 

 the sea. 



