542 The Andes and the Amazons. 



the Huallaga, Pastassa, and l^apo. Two species are de- 

 scribed, W. regia, Poep., and W. Mayaensis, Spruce. The 

 latter, the most common, is from thirty to forty feet high, 

 bearing li\e or six leaves twelve feet long, with forty pairs 

 of long semi-lanceolate pinnae spreading out horizontally, 

 but pendulous from their height. 



Leopoldinia. — This remarkable genus is represented 

 only in the thin forest (" Caa-tinga") on the sandy and 

 stony flats of the Upper Rio Negro. The L. jpiassaha is 

 ordinarily about twenty-five feet high (sometimes forty), 

 bearing thick, large, shining leaves fifteen feet long, with 

 sixty pairs of pinnae. The stem is stouter than in the ma- 

 jority of Palms, and is covered with a pendulous, brown, 

 hairy "beard." This is the valuable jpiassaha of com- 

 merce, exported to England for the manufacture of 

 brooms, but used on the Amazons for cables, for which it 

 is admirably fitted, being durable and light, not sinking in 

 water. The fibre in young plants is nearly five feet long ; 

 in old trees, not two. The fruit is flattened, an inch and 

 three-quarters long, of a dull-red color, and sweet. The 

 Piassaba grows along the banks of the Padanari, Jaha, 

 Daraha, Marie, and Xie. The L. major, Wall., or " Jara- 

 acu," is distinguished by its bitter fruit, its many cluster- 

 ed stems, from fifteen to twenty feet high ; its pendulous 

 leaves scarcely five feet long, with twenty-eight pairs of 

 pinnae eighteen inches in length. The L. pulchra, Mart., 

 or " Jara," is of humbler growth, and its woody leaf-sheaths 

 clasp the stem almost dowui to its base. It occurs on the 

 Tapajos as well as Negro. 



NuNNEZHARiA fragvans, P. et P. — This delicate, grace- 

 ful Palm is distributed along the arms of the Huallaga, 

 particularly around Tarapoto. The stem is only half an 

 inch in diameter, ringed, and rarely erect. It bears sim- 

 ple, forked, jagged leaves, and orange - colored flowers 



