OF THE AMAZON. 35 



PLATE XII. 



Iriartea exorhiza, Martins. 



Pashiuba, Lingoa Geral, 



This curious and beautiful tree is common in the 

 forests about Para and on the banks of the Amazon. 

 It reaches fifty or sixty feet in height, with the stem 

 moderately thick and very smooth, there being scarcely 

 any rings or scars left by the fallen leaves. 



The leaves are large and pinnate, with the leaflets 

 triangular and very deeply notched, standing out at 

 different angles with the midrib. The leaves curve over 

 gracefully, and the character and aspect of the foliage 

 is very different from that of most other palms. The 

 column formed by the sheathing leaf-stalks is swollen at 

 the base and of a deep green colour. 



The spadices are three or four in number, growing 

 rather upwards from the stem below the leaf-column.. 

 They are small and simply branched, and bear small 

 oval red fruits about the size of a damson, the outer 

 pulp of which is bitter and only eaten by some birds. 



But what most strikes attention in this tree, and 

 renders it so peculiar, is, that the roots are almost 

 entirely above ground. They spring out from the stem, 

 each one at a higher point than the last, and extend 

 diagonally downwards till they approach the ground, 

 when they often divide into many rootlets, each of 

 which secures itself in the soil. As fresh ones spring 

 out from the stem, those below become rotten and die 

 off; and it is not an uncommon thing to see a lofty 

 tree supported entirely by three or four roots, so that a 

 person may walk erect beneath them, or stand with a 



