578 Select Plants for Industrial Culture and 



each from 15 to 30 feet high. Of Euterpe two species occur in a 

 zone between 3,000 and 6,000 feet. Phytelephas microcarpa (Ruiz 

 and Pavon) ascends to 3,000 feet on the eastern slope of the Peru- 

 Andes. Phytelephas macrocarpa (R. & P.) grows also on the 

 eastern side of the Andes, up to 4,000 feet ; it is this superb species, 

 which yields by its seeds much of the vegetable ivory. Phytelephas 

 sequatorialis (Spruce) occurs on the western slope of the Peruvian 

 Andes, up to 5,000 feet ; this palin is one of the grandest objects in 

 the whole vegetable creation, its leaves attaining a length of 30 feet ! 

 The stem rises to 20 feet. Palm-ivory is also largely secured from 

 this plant. Though equinoctial, it lives only in the milder regions of 

 the mountains. Carludovica palmata (R. & P.), on the eastern side 

 of the Andes of Peru and Ecuador ascends to about 4,000 feet ; the 

 fan-shaped leaves from cultivated specimens furnish the main- 

 material for the best Panama-hats. Count de Castelnau saw many 

 palms on the borders of Paraguay during his great Brazilian expedi- 

 tion. Most of these, together with the palms of Uruguay and the wide 

 Argentine territory, would probably prove adapted for acclimation in 

 mild temperate latitudes ; but hitherto the limited access to those 

 countries has left us largely unacquainted with their vegetable 

 treasures also in this direction. Von Martius demonstrated so early 

 as 1850 the occurrence of the following palms in extra- tropical South- 

 America : Juania australis (H. Wendland), on high mountains in 

 Juan Fernandez, at 30 south latitude ; Juboea spectabilis (Humboldt), 

 in Chili, at 40 south latitude ; Trithrinax Brasiliana (Mart.), at 31 

 south latitude ; Copernicia cerifera (Mart.), at 29 south latitude ; 

 Acrocomia Totai (Mart.), at 28 south latitude ; Cocos australis 

 (Mart.), at 34 south latitude ; Cocos Yatai (Mart.), at 32 south 

 latitude ; Cocos Romanzoffiana (Chamisso), at 28 south latitude ; 

 Diplothemium littorale (Mart.), at 30 south latitude. All the last- 

 mentioned palms occur in Brazil, the Acrocomia and Trithrinax 

 extending to Paraguay, and Cocos australis to Uruguay and the 

 La Plata-States. 



While some palms, as indicated, descend to cooler latitudes, others 

 ascend to temperate and even cold mountain-regions. Among the 

 American species are prominent in this respect Euterpe andicola 

 (Brongniart), E. Haenkeana (Brongn.), E. longivaginata (Mart.), 

 Diplothemium Porallyi (Mart.) and Ceroxylon pithyrophyllum 

 (Mart.), all occurring on the Bolivian Andes at an elevation of about 

 8,000 feet. Ceroxylon andicola (Humboldt), Kunthia montana 

 (Humb.), Oreodoxa frigida (Humb.) and Geonoma densa (Linden), 

 also reach on the Andes of New Granada an elevation of 8,000 feet. 

 Ceroxylon Klopstockia (Mart.) advances on the Andes of Venezuela 

 fully to a zone of 7,500 feet altitude, where Karsten saw stems 200 

 feet high, with leaves 24 feet long. There also occur Syagrus San- 

 cona (Karsten) and Platenia Chiragua (Karsten), at elevations of 

 5,000 feet, both very lofty palms, and both recently reduced by Sir 

 Joseph Hooker to the genus Cocos. From the temperate moun- 

 tain-regions of sub-tropical Mexico are known, among others 



