Flowers bracteate, male and female in the same spadix, and male in another spadix, on the same or on a different tree. Spathes double, the interior one complete and woody. Male flowers with from six to twenty-four stamens and a small rudimentary pistil. Female flowers with a short style and three stigmas, and a cup-shaped ring of rudimentary stamens.
The stems of these palms are generally lofty, cylindrical and smooth, but there are some stemless species. The leaves of all are very handsome, large and regularly pinnate; the petioles have the margins of the sheathing bases often more or less fibrous. The spadix grows from among the lower leaves, and is simply branched; and the fruit is ovate or oblong, and has a dry fibrous outer covering.
Sixteen species of these beautiful Palms are known, inhabiting various parts of South America, from the level of the sea to a height of 4000 feet above it. Their smooth and regularly pinnate leaves render them very suitable for thatching. One species, the A. funifera, produces a fibre very similar to that of the Leopoldinia piassaba, and the stony seeds from the same tree supply a kind of vegetable ivory.
Pl. XLVI.
W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.
ATTALEA SPECIOSA Ht. 60 Ft.
PLATE XLVI.
Attalea speciosa, Martius.
Uauassú, Lingoa Geral.
This noble palm has the stem fifty or sixty feet high, straight, cylindrical and nearly smooth. The leaves are very large, terminal and regularly pinnate. The leaflets are elongate, rigid, closely set together, and spreading out flat on each side of the midrib. The sheathing bases of the petioles are persistent for a greater or less distance down the stem, and in young trees down to the ground, as in the Œnocarpus batawá.
The spadices grow from among the leaves and are large and simply branched. The fruit is of large size compared with most American palms, being about three inches long, and from this circumstance it derives its native name “Uauassú,” signifying “large fruit.”
The foliage of this tree is very extensively used for thatching. The young plants produce very large leaves before the stem is formed, and it is in this state that they are generally used. The unopened leaves from the centre are preferred, as, though they require some preparation, they produce a more uniform thatch. The leaf is shaken till it falls partially open, and then each leaflet is torn at the base so as to remain hanging by its midrib only, which is however quite sufficient to secure it firmly. They thus hang all at right angles to the midrib of the leaf, which admits of their being laid in a very regular manner on the rafters. They are generally known as “palha branca” or “white thatch,” from the pale yellow colour of the unopened leaves, and are considered the best covering for houses in places where Bussú cannot be obtained.