116 PALM TREES 



Genus Attalea, Humboldt. 



Flowers bracteate, male and female in the same spa- 

 dix, and male in another spadix, on the same or on a 

 different tree. Spathes double, the interior one complete 

 and woody. Male flowers with from six to twenty-four 

 stamens and a small rudimentary pistil. Female 

 flowers with a short style and three stigmas, and a cup- 

 shaped ring of rudimentary stamens. 



The stems of these palms are generally lofty, cylin- 

 drical and smooth, but there are some stemless species. 

 The leaves of all are very handsome, large and regularly 

 pinnate ; the petioles have the margins of the sheathing 

 bases often more or less fibrous. The spadix grows 

 from among the lower leaves, and is simply branched ; 

 and the fruit is ovate or oblong, and has a dry fibrous 

 outer covering. 



Sixteen species of these beautiful Palms are known, 

 inhabiting various parts of South America, from the 

 level of the sea to a height of 4000 feet above it. Their 

 smooth and regularly pinnate leaves render them very 

 suitable for thatching. One species, the A.funifera, 

 produces a fibre very similar to that of the Leopoldinia 

 piassaba, and the stony seeds from the same tree supply 

 a kind of vegetable ivory. 



