252 TlMEHRI. 
B. acanthocarpa, Mart : 
Var (or sp. ?) crispata, Drude. 
SCHOMBURGK gives B. acanthocarpa, Mart, as occur- 
ring throughout the forest region, flowering in December 
and January. My specimens, gathered on the Corentyn, 
sent to Professor Trail, that authority found to be 
DRUDE'S crispata. Whether the true species occurs 
in Guiana, or whether it is only represented by the 
variety here given I cannot say. 
It is generally a slender, short-stemmed plant, much 
encumbered however with trash, growing, either 
singly or in clumps of two or three, on dryish ground, 
widely scattered through the forest. Sometimes, however, 
it grows in swamps, in which cases the stem is con- 
siderably more developed, occasionally attaining a 
length of ten feet, but being then almost always more or 
less recumbent. When growing in swamps there are 
always aerial roots ; and when in other positions, a few 
of these, small and but little developed, are thrown out 
from one or more points some distance up the stem. 
Leaves remarkably upright ; leaflets few, about 28-30 
on each side, cuspidate at the contracted apex, arranged 
sometimes in pairs, sometimes singly, at irregular inter- 
vals. Fruit clothed with minute prickles, round, orange- 
red when ripe, whitish just before ; borne in numerous, 
very dense, grape-like clusters, many of which seem 
never to develop, apparently because too much crowded. 
Spathe usually curved over the fruit. 
Measurements. — Height from ground to base of leaves = 2 ft. 4 in. 
Length of leaf 9 ft. Girth of stem 6f in. 
The fruit is edible, but seems only to be picked, two 
or three at a time, casually by passing Indians. 
