134 PHYSIOGNOMY OF PLANTS- 



manner of the Dracaenas, as in Cucifera thebaica (the Doum- 

 palm), and Hyphsene coriacea. It is sometimes dispropor- 

 tionately thick (as in Corozo del Sinu, our Alfonsia oleifera) ; 

 sometimes feeble as a reed (as in Piritu, Kunthia montana, 

 and the Mexican Corypha nana) ; sometimes swelling towards 

 the base (as in Cocos) ; sometimes smooth, and sometimes 

 scaly (Palma de covija o de sombrero, in the Llanos) ; 

 sometimes armed with spines (as Corozo de Cumana and 

 Macanilla de Caripe), the long spines being distributed with 

 much regularity in concentric rings." 



" Characteristic differences are also furnished in some spe- 

 cies by roots which, springing from the stem at about a foot 

 or a foot and a half above the ground, either raise the stem as it 

 were upon a scaffolding, or surround it with thick buttresses. 

 I have seen Yiverras, and even very small monkeys, pass 

 underneath this kind of scaffolding formed by the roots of 

 the Caryota. Often the shaft or stem is swollen only in the 

 middle, being more slender above and below, as in the 

 Palma Real of the Island of Cuba. The leaves are sometimes 

 of a dark and shining green (as in the Mauritia and the 

 Cocoa nut palm) ; sometimes of a silvery white on the under 

 side (as in the slender Pan-palm, Corypha miraguama, which 

 we found in the Harbour of Trinidad de Cuba). Sometimes 

 the middle of the fan or palmate leaf is ornamented with 

 concentric yellowish or bluish stripes like a peacock's tail; 

 as in the thorny Mauritia which Bonpland discovered on 

 the banks of the Eio Atabapo." 



" The direction of the leaves is a character not less impor- 

 tant than their form and colour. The leaflets (foliola), are 



