318 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS. 



The more upright the direction of the leaves, or, in other words, the 

 more acute the angles which they form with the upper part or con- 

 tinuation of the stem, the grander and more imposing is the general 

 character and physiognomy of the tree. How different are the 

 character and aspect given by the drooping leaves of the Palma de 

 covija del Orinoco y de los Llanos de Calabozo (Corypha tectorum) ; 

 the more nearly horizontal or at least less upright leaves of the 

 Date and Cocoa-nut palms; and the aspiring, heavenward pointing 

 "branches of the Jagua, the Cucurito, and the Pirijao! 



"Nature has lavished every beauty of form on the Jagua palm, 

 which, intermingled with the Cucurito or Vadgihai (85 to 106 

 English feet high), adorns the Cataracts of Atures and Maypures, 

 and is, occasionally found also on the lonely banks of the Cassiquiare. 

 The smooth, slender stems of the Jagua, rising to between 64 and 

 75 English feet, appear above the dense mass of foliage of other 

 kinds of trees from amidst which they spring like raised colonnades, 

 their airy summits contrasting beautifully with the thickly-leaved 

 species of Ceiba, and with the forest of Laurineae, Calophyllum, and 

 different species of Amyris which surround them. The leaves of 

 the Jagua, which are few in number (scarcely so many as seven or 

 eight), are sixteen or seventeen feet long, and rise almost vertically 

 into the air; their extremities are curled like plumes; the ultimate 

 divisions or leaflets, having only a thin, grass-like parenchyma, flutter 

 lightly and airily round the slowly balancing central leaf-stalks. In 

 all palms, the inflorescence springs from the trunk itself, and below 

 the place where the leaves originate; but the manner in which this 

 takes place modifies the physiognomic character. In a few species 

 only (as the Corozo del Sinu), the spathe (or sheath enclosing the 

 flowers and fruits) rises vertically, and the fruits stand erect, form- 

 ing a kind of thyrsus, like the fruits of the Bromelia: in most 

 species of palms, the spathes (which are sometimes smooth and 

 sometimes rough and armed with formidable spines) are pendent; 

 in a few species, the male flowers are of a dazzling whiteness, and 

 in such cases the flower-covered spadix, when fully developed, 

 shines from afar. In most species of palms, the male flowers are 

 yellowish, closely crowded, and appear almost withered when they 

 disengage themselves from the spathe. 



