53 



PLATE XVIII. 

 Mauritia C ARAN a, n. sp. 



Carana, Lingoa Geral. 



This is a large smooth-stemmed species allied to 

 M.flexuosa, but quite distinct and hitherto undescribed. 

 The stem is about a foot in diameter and from twenty 

 to forty feet high, smooth and obscurely ringed. The 

 leaves are very similar to those of the Miriti, but the 

 leaflets are not so deeply divided, being united together 

 at the base for one-third of their entire length, and 

 much more drooping at the tips. The petioles are 

 very large, straight and cylindrical ; their dilated 

 bases are persistent for a considerable distance down 

 the stem, and their margins give out a quantity of 

 fibres which clothe it as in the Leopoldinia piassaba, 

 though rather less densely. 



The spadices grow from among the leaves and are 

 somewhat more erect and much smaller than in the 

 Miriti, and the fruits are less abundant, smaller and 

 slightly ovate. 



The leaf-stalks of this species are used for the same 

 purposes as those of the Miriti and Jupati already de- 

 scribed, as those palms are generally absent where 

 this is abundant. The part most generally used, how- 

 ever, is the leaf, which for thatching is preferred to 

 that of any other species, on account of its having so 

 large a portion of the base entire and being of a very 



