1^6 



The J 



ournal 



of Heredity 



and which is described in the botanical 

 works of those countries as Guilielma 

 speciosa and Bactris gachipaes, is speci- 

 ficall\- identical with the Costa Rican 

 Guilielma titilis: plants and fruits 

 examined in Costa Rica, Colombia, and 

 Ecuador appeared to us to be of one 

 and the same species. 



Pittier considers the name pejibaye 

 (the form commonh' used in Costa 

 Rica) to be of South American origin, 

 while Carlos Gagini (Costarriqueins- 

 mos) states categorically that it is a 

 corruption of the Haitian name pixbay 

 or pijibay. The word is written in 

 \-arious ways: pejivaUe, pejiballe, pixbae 

 and pixbay are all found in Costa Rican 

 literature. The pronunciation is pe- 

 hi-\y-e {e as in pet, i as in hither, and 

 the final e nearh' like the first). Gagini 

 considers pijibay the most acceptable 

 spelling, but pejibaye is the form pre- 

 ferred in the majority of Costa Rican 

 publications.^ 



DESCRIPTION 



The pejibaye palm is a pinnate- 

 leaved species, reaching a maximum 

 height of about 60 feet. Its straight, 

 slender stem, commonly about six 

 inches thick, is armed from the ground 

 upward with stiff, very sharp, black 

 spines about two inches long. These 

 are arranged in circular zones of vary- 

 ing width, those near the base of the 

 stem being four to six inches W'ide, 

 while higher up the width decreases to 

 one or two inches: there is about an 

 inch of smooth trunk betwx'en the 

 zones. 



The leaves, which are graceful in 

 appearance, especialh' when the palm 

 is young, are connnonly eight to 12 feet 

 in length, and deep green in color. The 

 rachis is provided with scattered spines. 



The species is monoecious in char- 

 acter, staminate, or male, and pistillate, 

 or female, flowers being produced upon 

 the same raceme: the latter occur 

 scattered among the former, and both 

 are small, sessile, and yellow-white in 

 color. The racemes, which are pro- 

 duced from the trunk of the palm 



immediately below or among the lower 

 leaves, and are protected by erect 

 spathes, are stout, and 18 to 24 inches 

 long. The staminate flowers have six 

 stamens arranged in three pairs oppo- 

 site the lobules of the corolla; the 

 pistillate flow'ers have an annular, 

 leathery calyx, a small, round-cam- 

 panulate, three-toothed corolla, and a 

 trilocular ovary surmounted by three 

 sessile stigmas. 



The flowers usually appear during 

 April, May, and June in the lowlands 

 of Costa Rica, somewhat later in the 

 highlands. The first fruits mature in 

 September. From this month until 

 March or April there are usually ripe 

 fruits on the plant, pro\ided the 

 racemes are not cut when the first 

 fruits reach maturity. The long time 

 which the fruits will remain on the 

 palm in good condition is a noteworthy 

 feature of the pejibaye. 



It is somewhat difficult to gather the 

 fruit, because of the sharp spines which 

 protect the trunk of the palm. Ladders 

 may be put up, and the racemes cut and 

 low'ered to the groimd ; or, as is com- 

 monh" done, the fruit may be knocked 

 ofi^ with long poles. 



Racemes of mature fruits sometimes 

 weigh 25 pounds or more, and five or 

 six such racemes are often produced by 

 the palm in a single crop. The maxi- 

 mum production of one palm (or, 

 more properly speaking, one stem, 

 since four or five stems are often 

 allowed to grow from a common base) 

 is about 150 pounds of fruit. It 

 is seen, therefore, that the productive- 

 ness of the pejibaye is similar to that 

 of the date palm. 



The indi\idual fruits are top-shaped, 

 conical, or (Aoid in form, and vary 

 from one to two inches in length. The 

 base of the fruit is nearly covered 

 by the green, leathery, three-toothed 

 cahx. There is a wide range of varia- 

 tion in regard to the color of the 

 surface, that of some varieties being 

 clear light yellow, while in others the 

 color is deep orange or reddish orange, 

 sometimes shading to brown. The 



' In English the iiiappropriatr naiiu' oi i)caih palm is sonK-tinies ap])lii'(i to tliis plant. 



