OF THE AMAZON. 97 



PLATE XXXVII. 



ACROCOMIA LASIOSPATHA, Martins. 



Mucuja, Lingo a Geral. 



The stem of this tree is about forty feet high, strong, 

 smooth and ringed. The leaves are rather large, ter- 

 minal and drooping. The leaflets are long and narrow, 

 and spread irregularly from the midrib, every part of 

 which is very spiny. The sheathing bases of the leaf- 

 stalks are persistent on the upper part of the stem, and 

 in young trees clothe it down to the ground. 



The spadices grow from among the leaves, erect or 

 somewhat drooping, and are simply branched. The 

 spathes are woody, persistent and clothed with spines. 

 The fruit is the size of an apricot, globular, and of a 

 greenish-olive colour, and has a thin layer of firm edible 

 pulp of an orange colour covering the seed. 



This species is common in the neighbourhood of 

 Para, where its nearly globular crown of drooping 

 feathery leaves is very ornamental. The fruit, though 

 oily and bitter, is very much esteemed and is eagerly 

 sought after. It grows on dry soil about Para and 

 the Lower Amazon, but it is quite unknown in the 

 interior. 



Several young plants of this and a species closely 

 resembling it, the A. sclerocarpa, are growing in the 



K 



