

APPEND.] 



CARNAUBA. 



369 



the banks of the rivulets of the Sertoens of Pernambuco, 

 Paraiba, and Seara. It yields by boiling a yellow dye, 

 which is sufficiently durable upon skins. It is probable 

 that some means might be found of fixing the colcur 

 upon cotton cloth, as is the case with the tatajmba 

 (morus tinctoria). Besides this use, it is applied to that 

 of curing sarnas, an eruptive complaint; the patient 

 being washed in a decoction of the leaves. As I could 

 not arrange these plants in any of the known genera, I 

 have formed one for them to which I have given the 

 name of Linharea, in memory of D. Rodrigo de Souza 

 Coutinho, Conde de Linhares, the cultivator and pro- 

 tector of letters. 



Carnauba or Carnaiba, Corypha cerifera: — Arrud. 

 Cent. Plant. Pern. This palm is one of the most useful 

 plants of the Sertoens; it rises to the height of thirty 

 feet and more; the varzeas or low lands upon the borders 

 of the rivers and rivulets of Pernambuco, Paraiba do 

 Norte, Scara, and Piauhi, and principally the banks of 

 the rivers Jaguaribe, Apodi, Mossoro, and Acu, are 

 covered with these trees. When the fruit of it has at- 

 tained the size of a small olive (which when green it 

 resembles in form), it should be boiled several times in 

 different water to take off its astringent properties ; and 

 then a sufficient boiling being given it becomes soft and 

 has the taste of boiled maize. In this state it is eaten 

 with milk, and is a wholesome food. The pith of (the 

 stem of the young plants, being bruised in water, af- 

 fords a nutritive fecula, as white as that of mandioc 

 The plant should not much exceed the height of a man 

 when used for this purpose. It is of great service to 

 the inhabitants of those parts in times of drought and 

 famine. The leaves of the young plant are of two feet 

 VOL. II. b b 



