OF THE AMAZON. 59 



PLATE XXI. 

 Mauritia pumila, n. sp. 



Caranai, Lingoa Geral. 



This curious little palm is only eight or ten feet high, 

 and has the stem slender, ringed, and armed with strong 

 conical spines. The leaves are rather small and few in 

 number, and the leaflets are much shorter, broader and 

 more rigid than in any other palm of this genus. The 

 petioles are long and rather thick, much sheathing at 

 the bases which are persistent, clothing the stem some 

 distance down after the leaves have dropped away from 

 them, a character not found in any other prickly- 

 stemmed species. The spadix is very long, branched 

 and drooping. The fruit was not seen. 



I only met with this palm on the Upper Rio Negro 

 in two localities on the sandy margins of rivers and 

 lakes just above the limits of the winter floods. 



