90 PALM TREES 



Bactris mar a j a, Martins. 



Maraja, Lingoa Geral. 



This is a palm rather larger than most others of the 

 genus, and inhabiting the flooded banks of the Amazon. 



It produces large clusters of fruit resembling small 

 black grapes, and having a thin pulp of an agreeable 

 subacid flavour, — a peculiarity not found in the fruit of 

 any other American palm that I am acquainted with. 

 The places where it grows are often so deeply flooded 

 that the fruit hangs close to the surface of the water, 

 and can be plucked while passing in a canoe. 



Dried specimens of the tree and fruit are in the Mu- 

 seum, and young plants are growing in the Palm House 

 at Kew. 



