105 

 PLATE XL. 



AsTROCARYUM VULGARE, MartillS. 



Tucum, Lingoa Geral. 



This is a lofty tree, the stem growing to a height of 

 forty or fifty feet, with a diameter of six or eight inches. 

 It is covered with regular broad bands or rings of 

 thickly set black spines, with narrow spaces between 

 them. The leaves are terminal, large and regularly 

 pinnate. The leaflets are elongate, regularly spreading 

 and drooping. The midrib and expanded sheaths of 

 the petioles are densely clothed with long, flat, dusky 

 spines, having a pale expanded margin. The edges of 

 the leaflets are also armed with fine spines. 



The spadix is erect and simply branched, and is often 

 hid among the foliage. The spathe is persistent, and 

 the fruit is oval, of a greenish colour and not eatable. 



Every part of this palm bristles with sharp spines so 

 as to render it difficult to handle any portion of it ; yet 

 it is of great importance to the Indians, and in places 

 where it is not indigenous, is cultivated with care in 

 their mandiocca fields and about their houses, along 

 with the " Pupunha " and other fruit trees. Yet they 

 use neither the fruit, the stem, nor the full-grown leaves. 

 It is only the unopened leaves which they make use of 

 to manufacture cordage, superior in fineness, strength 

 and durability to that procured from the Mauritia 



