Dec. 1893.] BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 75 



Trithrinax brasiliensis, Mart. 



Toba, Laiardui. 



Hab. — Fortin Page. Common in the " monte duro " of 

 the Pilcomayo. Flowered 1st February. 



This species of pahn occurred not infrequently around 

 Fortin Page, where it was entirely confined to the montes. 

 Growing as it did in the comparative twilight, it was 

 usually slender and much drawn out, the stem being often 

 10 or 15 feet in length ; and oftener prostrate or semi- 

 prostrate than erect. 



COPERNICIA CERIFERA, Mart. 



Hab. — Kio Bermejo ; Eio Pilcomayo. 



This, the Carandai or Palma Negra of the Paraguaians, 

 the Chaik of the Tobas, is the most characteristic palm in 

 the region of Fortin Page, and in fact in the Gran Chaco 

 as a whole. Vast regions in the low -lying parts of the 

 Chaco, occupying many thousand square miles covered with 

 rank grass are dotted all over with Carandai palms, forming 

 immense palm groves or palmares. 



The Carandai palm averages about 30 feet in height. 

 It has a smooth stem about seven inches in diameter, 

 marked externally with shallow depressions indicating the 

 leaf scars. Great variability exists in the degree of 

 persistence of the leaf bases. In the young palms they 

 are decidedly persistent, the vvithered lamina being merely 

 broken off by the wind, but after reaching a height of 

 several feet the leaves are cleanly shed. The persistence 

 of the hard spiny leaf-bases around the young stem must 

 evidently be of great use in preserving it from the attacks 

 of deer and other vegetable feeders ; the protection being 

 no longer required higher up. The average height of the 

 Carandai palms on the Pilcomayo is, as I have said, about 

 30 feet. Two exceptionally tall individuals of which I took 

 the altitude measured 72 feet 6 inches, and 62 feet 10 

 inches, and the former must,. I think, be about the limit of 

 height above which the wind pressure on the leafy head 

 becomes too great for stability. Occasionally, but, com- 

 paratively speaking, very rarely, I came across specimens 

 whose stem divided up into several branches. One tall 

 palm bifurcated about 45 feet from the ground. One of 



