OF THE AMAZON. 55 



PLATE XIX. 



Mauritia aculeata, Humboldt. 



Caranai, Lingoa Geral (Rio Negro). 

 Carana? (Para). 



This species has a tall, erect and slender stem reaching 

 about forty or fifty feet in height and armed with 

 numerous, long, conical, woody spines arranged in 

 rings. The leaves are rather small with the leaflets 

 rigid and very slightly drooping at the tips, and united 

 at the base for about one-eighth of their length. The 

 petioles are long and slender and are deciduous, the 

 entire leaf falling away from the stem. The midrib 

 and edges of the leaflets are armed with weak spinules. 

 The spadices are small and grow somewhat erect so as 

 to be partly concealed among the leaves, and the fruit 

 is oval and rather small. 



This species grows on the Upper Rio Negro and 

 Atabapo, in marshes, with a rocky subsoil, and in the 

 moist parts of the Catinga forest. The Carana, com- 

 mon in the swamps (not in the tide-flooded lands) about 

 Para, is very closely allied or may be the same species. 



