Pl. XXXVI.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
GUILIELMA SPECIOSA. Ht. 60 Ft.
PLATE XXXVI.
Guilielma speciosa, Martius.
Pupúnha, Lingoa Geral.
Pirijao, Indians of Venezuela, Humboldt.
“The Peach Palm.”
This most picturesque and elegant palm has the stem slender, cylindrical, and thickly set with long needle-shaped spines disposed in rings or bands. It reaches sixty feet in height, and grows quite erect, though in exposed situations it becomes curved and waving. The leaves are very numerous, terminal, pinnate and drooping, forming a nearly spherical crown to the stem; and the leaflets growing out from the midrib in various directions, and being themselves curled or waved, give the whole mass of foliage a singularly plumy appearance. The young plants have the leaves entire like those of the Bussú, but as the age of the tree increases they break up into regular narrow leaflets.
The spadices grow from beneath the leaves, and are small, simply branched and drooping. The spathes are ventricose, woody and persistent, curving over the spadix.
The fruit is about the size of an apricot, of a triangular oval shape, and fine reddish-yellow colour. In most instances the seed is abortive, the whole fruit being a farinaceous mass. Occasionally, however, fruits are found containing the perfect stony seed, and they are then nearly double the usual size. This production of undeveloped fruits may be partly due to change of soil and climate, for the tree is not found wild in the Amazon district, but is invariably planted near the Indians’ houses. In their villages many hundreds of these trees may often be seen, adding to the beauty of the landscape, and supplying the inhabitants with an abundance of wholesome food. In fact it here takes the place of the cocoa-nut in the East, and is almost as much esteemed.
As the stems are so spiny, it is impossible to climb up them to procure the fruit in the ordinary way. The Indians therefore construct rough stages up the sides of the trees, or form rude ladders by securing cross pieces between two of them, by which they mount so high as to be able to pull down the bunches of fruit with hooked poles.