JtJLT 1891.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 175 



rather short stature, not very frequent in the Pomeroon 

 basin, and therefore too rarely seen to be a marked feature in 

 the landscape like the Manicole and the Tooroo. But a 

 fourth palm is very common there in the most swampy parts 

 of the forest, though from its comparatively low growth it 

 can only now and then be seen from the boat, when it 

 happens to grow near the water's edge, — I mean the Troolie 

 {Manicaria saccifcra). The stranger recognises in it at once 

 a new palm, and he is never again in danger of mistaking it 

 for any other. Its distinguishing character is its huge, 

 oblong, uncut leaves, 20 to 25 feet long by 5 feet broad when 

 fully developed, and as it is seen in the stillness of a forest 

 swamp, where no wind can touch it to break the leaves, it is 

 a noble sight. Its whole beauty lies in the leaves, for the 

 short trunk is inconspicuous, and is generally encumbered by 

 the old leaf-sheaths. The Indians use these magnificent 

 leaves as thatch in preference to all others. 



Let us look, again, along the mass of trees that are visible 

 from the river and we shall presently perceive that, even to 

 a superficial glance, the wealth of this rich country in palms 

 is by no means exhausted. There, contrasting finely with 

 the commoner looking rounded trees beside it, rises a palm 

 with a very conspicuous crown whose pinnate leaves stand 

 strongly up much more erect than any we have yet noticed. 

 This palm differs also from all those others in this, that its 

 stem is banded all the way up with broad rings of very long, 

 strong, sharp-pointed bristles, the intervals between the rings 

 being unarmed. The erect leaves are of large size, as much 

 as 20 feet long by 8 feet broad, and the longest pinnse may 

 be 41 feet long, the tree itself being 30 to 40 feet high. The 

 peculiar set of the leaves and the armed trunk render it easy 

 to distinguish. It is Astrocaryuin tacuma. It may easily 

 be confounded with another palm, A. tacumoides, which is 

 very similar, but is smaller in all its parts, and grows, not 

 singly, but with several stems from one root. Both are 

 common, and in both the fruit is very conspicuous, being 

 about the size of a small hen's egg and of a bright orange 

 colour when mature ; it is held in high esteem by both 

 Indians and parrots. The same difference in the mode of 

 growth is seen in the case of other two palms of that 

 creek, viz., Euterpe cdulis (Manicole), which has already been 



