Plate II. fig. 1, a fruit of Raphia tædigera of the natural size.
Genus Mauritia, Linnæus.
Male flowers on one tree, female or hermaphrodite flowers on another. The spathes are imperfect, bract-ike, tubular sheaths. The male flowers have six stamens. The female flowers have a three-lobed stigma and six imperfect stamens.
The stems are either tall, columnar and smooth, or more slender and armed with strong conical spines. The leaves are all fan-shaped or radiating from a centre. The spadix is very large and pinnately branched, and grows from among the leaves. The fruits are of moderate size, oval or globular, and covered with rather small imbricated scales pointing downwards.
Four species are described by Martius, three of which occur in the Amazon district, and four more were met with by me on the Rio Negro, so that the genus seems confined to the hottest parts of the American Continent from the level of the sea to an altitude of about 3000 feet.
Pl. XVII.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
MAURITIA FLEXUOSA. Ht. 100 Ft.
PLATE XVII.
Mauritia flexuosa, Linnæus.
Mirití, Lingoa Geral.
Muríchi, in Venezuela.