DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



39 



>A 



tgS&tMlJjy 



(locally) for fishing - nets and ropes." (Dr. George Watt.) A. modesta is mentioned by 

 Liotard as a possible paper plant in India; known as Phulahi. 



Acanthorhiza warscewiczii. 



A magnificent palm found in the forests of Cbiriqui. "Employed by the natives 

 for making brushes of very fine quality, carpets, tapestries, etc/' (Manual Hoepli). 

 Cultivated in greenhouses. (See fig. 7.) 



Achiial, or Aguash (Peru). See Mauritia Jfexuosa. 

 Acrocomia lasiospatha. Great Macaw Palm. 



Endogen. Palmcc. 



Native name, Mucuja (Braz). Cuban name of the fiber, Pita de corojo. 

 This species is common in the neighborhood of Para, where its nearly globular 

 crown of drooping feathery leaves is very ornamental. The fruit, though oily and 

 bitter, is very much esteemed and is 

 eagerly sought after. It grows on 

 dry soil about Para and the Lower 

 Amazon, but it is quite unknown in 

 the interior. The stem is about forty 

 feet high, strong, smooth, and ringed. 

 The leaves are rather large, terminal, 

 and drooping. The leaflets are long 

 and narrow, and spread irregularly 

 from the midrib, every part of which 

 is very spiny. The sheathing bases 

 of the leafstalks are persistent on 

 the upper part of the stem, and in 

 young trees clothe it down to the 

 ground. The spadices grow from 

 among the leaves erect or somewhat 

 drooping, and are simply branched. 

 The spathes are Avoody, persistent, 

 and clothed with spines. The fruit 

 is the size of an apricot, globular, 

 and of a greenish-olive color, and 

 has a thin layer of firm edible pulp 

 of an orange color covering the seed. 

 ( Wallace.) 



Structural Fiber. — " The strands 

 of fiber present a ribbon-like appear- 

 ance some what resembling Raffia, but 

 firmer and not so papery. Extremely 

 strong and capable of being divided 

 into very tough filaments." (Morris.) 

 Specimens of the fiber were re- 

 ceived by the Department from Cuba 

 so long ago as the early seventies. 

 The ribbons are very white. By rolling between the hands it breaks up into innu- 

 merable filaments, some of great fineness. It might prove a valuable fiber for cord- 

 age, though a drawback (in the specimen examined) is the presence of little spines, 

 doubtless those mentioned by Squier, which are as sharp as needles, and half an 

 inch in length. They are not readily seen, but by grasping a handful of the fiber 

 in the hand they make their presence known with painful surety. Two varieties 

 of Corojo are given in the catalogue of M. Bernardin, the " Corojo de la tena" 

 from the West Indies, stated to be Cocos crispa, and the Corojo, Corozo, or Cocoyal 



Fig. 7. — Plant of Acanthorhiza ivarsceiviczii. 



