34 PALM TREES 



Genus Ibiartea, Ruiz et Pavon. 



Female flowers few, interspersed among the males, 

 bracteate. Spathe membranous, incomplete. Male 

 flowers with from twelve to fifty stamens and the 

 rudiments of a pistil. Female flowers with three 

 sessile stigmas. 



These singular and beautiful Palms have lofty, 

 smooth, cylindrical or ventricose stems, very faintly 

 ringed. The roots grow more or less above ground. 

 The leaves are terminal and pinnate, and the leaflets 

 are somewhat triangular, notched, often twisted or 

 curled, and have radiating nerves. The sheathing 

 bases form a column as in Euterpe. The spadices 

 grow from beneath the leaves and are simply branched 

 and drooping. The spathes vary in number and size ; 

 they are membranous, and fall off before the fruit 

 ripens. The fruit is oval, of moderate size, generally 

 of a red or yellow colour, and the pulpy part is bitter 

 and uneatable. The stems of this genus increase in 

 thickness within certain limits, differing from most 

 other palms, which, when the stem is once formed, 

 only increase in height. 



Nine species of this genus are known, all natives of 

 South America. Four of them occur in the Amazon 

 district, three in Bolivia, one in Venezuela, and one 

 near Bogota, reaching a height above the sea of 5000 

 to 8000 feet. 



