152 



PALMS 



date), or, as in the beautiful Palma Eeal of the Havana, from 

 a smooth, slender, and grass-green shaft, placed like an additional 

 column upon the dark-coloured trunk. In the fan-palms, the 

 crown frequently rests upon a layer of dried leaves, which impart 

 a severe character to the tree. 



The form of the trunk also varies greatly, sometimes almost 

 entirely disappearing, as in Chamcerops humilis; sometimes, 

 as in the Calami, assuming a bush-rope appearance, smooth 

 or rugged, unarmed or bristling with spines. 



In the American Yriarteas, the trunk, as in the mangroves, 

 and many of the screw-pines, rests upon a number of roots 

 rising above the ground. Thus the Y. 

 exorrhiza, which grows on the banks of 

 the Amazon to the height of a hundred 

 feet, frequently stands upon a dozen or 

 more supports, embracing a circumference 

 of twenty feet, and the trunk begins only 

 six or eight feet from the ground. The 

 Yriartea ventricosa is still more curious, 

 as the spindle-shaped trunk, which at the 

 top and at the bottom is scarce a foot thick, 

 swells in the middle to a threefold dia- 

 meter, and, from its convenient form, is 

 frequently used by the Indians for the 

 construction of their canoes. 



The form and colour of the fruits is 

 also extremely various. What a difference 

 between the large coco de mer and the 

 date — between the egg-shaped fruits of the Mauritia, whose scaly 

 dark rind gives them the appearance of fir-cones, and the gold 

 and purple peaches of the Pirijao, hanging in colossal clusters of 

 sixty or eighty from the summit of the majestic trunk. 



Notwithstanding the fecundity of the palms, generally but few 

 individuals of each species are found growing wild, partly in 

 consequence of the frequent abortive developement of the fruits,; 

 but chiefly on account of the large number of animals — from the 

 grub to the monkey — that are constantly feeding upon them. 



When we consider the enormous range of territory over which 

 the palm-trees extend, and how very few of their many hundred 

 species have hitherto been multiplied and improved by cul- 



YiiarLea ventricosa. 



