Nov. 4, 1923 COOK: PSEUDOPHOENIX INSIGNIS 399 
The alliance of the wine-palm with Aeria is indicated not only by 
the slender prolongation of the trunk, but by the very large, finger- 
thick roots, the four-foot inflorescence with shining red fruits, the 
soft, succulent pith from which the juice could be squeezed with the 
hand, and the spathes that were used as vessels for drawing the 
palm-wine, according to Plumier’s account, as transcribed by Martius. 
All of the Synechanthaceae have shining red fruits, while the fruits 
of Pseudophoenix do not shine, because they are coated with wax. 
Also the Synechanthaceae are notable for having the trunk sup- 
ported by a solid mass of very coarse superficial roots, those of Aeria 
attenuata being about 3 cm. in diameter, or about four times as 
thick as the roots of Pseudophoenix insignis. 
It is quite possible, of course, that two or more of the bulging palms 
were confused in Plumier’s notes, but the data that Martius gives in 
relation to Euterpe vinifera are clearly inapplicable to Pseudophoenix 
imsignis. Beccari states that there are drawings of Pseudophoenix 
among Plumier’s unpublished materials, but the statement of charac- 
ters shown by the drawings would apply as well or better to Aeria, 
except that the fruits of Aeria are not pedicellate, though they have 
a narrow base that might be represented as a stalk. In any event, 
the data that Martius extracted from the Plumier collection would 
determine the application of the name vinifera, and these data seem 
quite definitely to exclude Pseudophoeniz. | 
Wendland referred the wine-palm to Gaussia, a Cuban genus rather 
closely related to Aerta but having a stout columnar trunk, apparently 
neither bulged below nor attenuate above. Only one spathe is 
described for Gaussia princeps, and this long and narrow, while Aeria 
attenuata has 7 short, cuplike spathes. As a name for the historical 
wine-palm the new combination Aeria vinifera (Martius) may be 
used, pending a rediscovery of the palm. This name would replace 
Aeria attenuata if the species should prove to be the same as in Porto 
Rico, though a somewhat thicker trunk and larger spherical fruits 
are indicated in the account of Euterpe vinifera that Martius gives.! 
With Gaussia in Cuba and Aeria in Porto Rico it seems reasonable 
to suppose that the family Synechanthaceae was once represented 
in Haiti, though the species may be extinct, as Beccari suggests.? 
‘A palm that yielded a popular beverage might easily be exterminated. 
Indeed, the abundance of Pseudophoenix is evidence that it was not 
the wine palm. It would not seem reasonable to suppose that such a 
1 Historia Naturalis Palmarum 1: LXXXV. 
* The Pomona College Journal of Economic Botany, 1912. 
