DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 



149 



Desmoncus macroacanthus. The Jacitara. 



This species grows in the Catinga forests of the Upper Rio Negro and on the mar- 

 gins of small streams, climbing over trees and hanging in festoons between them, 

 throwing out its armed leaves on every side to catch the unwary traveler. The stem 

 of this palm is very slender, weak, and 

 tlexible, often sixty or seventy feet long, 

 and climbing over bushes and trees or 

 trailing along the ground. It is armed 

 with scattered tubercular prickles. 

 The leaves grow alternately, along the 

 stem ; they are pinnate, with from three 

 to five pairs of leaflets, beyond which 

 the midrib is produced and armed with 

 several pairs of strong spines directed 

 backward, and with numerous smaller 

 prickles. The leaflets are ovate, with 

 the edges waved or curled. The bases 

 of the petioles are expanded into long 

 membranous sheaths. The spadices 

 grow on long stalks from the axils of 

 the leaves and are simply branched. 

 The spathes are ventricose, erect, per- 

 sistent, and prickly, and the fruit is 

 globular, of a red color, and not eata- 

 ble. The rind or bark of this species 

 is much used for making the "tipitis" 

 or elastic plaited cylinders used for 

 squeezing the juice out of the grated 

 mandioca root in the manufacture of 

 farina. These cylinders are sometimes 

 made of the rind of certain water jdants 

 and of the petioles of several palms, but 

 those constructed of "Jacitdra" are said 

 to outlast two or three of the others, 

 and though they are much more diffi- 

 cult to make, are most generally used 

 among the Indian tribes. ( Wallace.) 



This Brazilian palm is mentioned in the Handbook of the State of Para, W. C. E., 

 1893, as producing a useful fiber. It is there known as the jacitara. 



Deswal jute (see Corclwrus). 



Devil's cotton (see Abroma augusta). 



Devil's nettle (see Laportea). 



Dhak (Ind.). Butea frondosa. 



Dhaman and Dhamru (Ind.). Greivia asiatica. 



Dhunchi (Ind.). See Sesbania. 



Dianella tasmanica. Broad-leaved Flax Lily. 



A genus of Liliacew found in Australia and southern Asia. They have fibrous roots 

 and grass-like leaves. 



Fiber. — This species was secured at the Phila. Int. Exh., 1876, under the name 

 D. latifolia. It was prepared by Dr. Guilfoyle, who stated on the label accompanying 

 the specimen that the plant grows on the banks of creeks and fern gullies in elevated 



Fig. 47. —A plant of Desmoncus macroacanthus. 



