100 PALM TREES 



Genus Astrocaryum, Meyer. 



Female flowers few in number, situated beneath the 

 males on the same spadix. Spathe complete, woody. 

 Male flowers with six stamens and a rudimentary pistil. 

 Female flowers with three stigmas and a rudimentary 

 ring of stamens. 



In this genus the stems are generally lofty and 

 thickly set with rings of spines, but some species are 

 stemless. The leaves are large and pinnate, the leaflets 

 elongate and linear, and as well as the petioles very 

 prickly. The spadices are simply branched, and the 

 fruits are ovate or globose, with a fibrous or fleshy 

 covering, sometimes eatable. 



Sixteen species of these Palms are known, inhabiting 

 Mexico, Brazil, and other parts of South America, but 

 not extending higher up the mountains than 2000 feet 

 above the sea. They have rather a repulsive aspect, 

 from almost every part, — stem, leaves, fruit-stalk and 

 spathe, being armed with acute spines in some cases a 

 foot long. 



