244 Plants Collected in Paraguay. 



Tradescantia Fiuniinensis, Veil., Flor. Flum., 140, 1. 152. 



Buenos Aires (1.5). October. 



I collected this plant at Buenos Aires, but it also occurs in 

 Paraguay. Stems decumbent, much branched, sulcate, compressed, 

 glabrous, 4 or 5 dm, high. Leaves sessile, ovate-lanceolate, acumi- 

 nate, 3-5 cm. long. Sepals scabrous-pubescent, or glabrous on the 

 back. Flowers white. 



Tradescantia glandiilosa, Seub. in Mart. Fl. Bras., ill, pt. 1, 253. 



Asuncion (261). December. 



A small plant with striate, glabrous, or glandular-pubescent 

 stems, 1^-4^ dm. high. Leaves elliptical, mucronate, with long 

 white cilise at the amplexicaul base, and glandular ciliate above, 

 3-5 cm. long and 2-3 cm. broad. Flowers very small, in umbellate 

 clusters at the summit of the stems and branches, the sepals and 

 pedicels glandular hairy. Flowers about 3 mm. high, the petals 

 white, the sepals greenish. When fresh the stems are a little succu- 

 lent and nearly or quite terete, becoming angular and compressed 

 in drying. In shady or moist grounds. 



PALM^. 

 Acroconiia sclerocarpa, Mart., Palm. Bras., Q%, t. 56 et 57. 



Asuncion (233). 



One of the most common palms in Paraguay, popularly called 

 Coco. It is a monoecious tree growing 8-12 m. high, armed on 

 the trunk with many rows of long spines (some of them 10 cm.), 

 which, as the tree ages fall off, often leaving the trunk nearly bare. 

 The fronds are pinnate, from 1 to IJ m. long; pinnae green, coria- 

 ceous, in 2 opposite rows, 1-2 cm. apart, 3-4 dm. long and about 

 1 J cm. wide ; rachis triangular, armed with sharp spines 2-4 cm. 

 long. Staminate flowers in numerous long aments or spikes above ; 

 pistillate few, sessile at the base of the branches ; spathe single, 

 long, and husk-like. Drupe globular, 3 cm. or more in diameter, 

 surrounded by a thin separable rind, inside of which is a soft yel- 

 low, edible pulp ; seed an exceedingly hard nut containing an edible 

 meat which tastes like that of the cocoanut. 



This is a valuable tree, the nuts yielding an excellent oil, and the 

 meat forming a favorite article of food among the Paraguayans. 

 Piles of the extracted kernels are offered for sale in the Asuncion 



