On the banks of the Amazon, on the contrary, we see at once that it is in a foreign land. It flourishes indeed with great luxuriance, but no part of it is applied to any useful purpose, the fruit only being consumed as an occasional luxury. In the towns and larger villages where the Portuguese have settled it has been planted, but among the Indians of the interior it is still quite unknown.
List of the Palms described in this Work, with their Native Names and Uses.
| Botanical Name. | Native Name. | Uses. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Leopoldinia | |||
| pulchra | Jará | Stem used for fencing, rafters, &c. | |
| major | Jará assú | Fruit for making salt. | |
| piassaba | Piassába | Fibre for cordage, brooms, &c.; leaves for thatching; fruit eatable. | |
| Euterpe | |||
| oleracea | Assaí | Fruit for making a drink; stem for rafters, &c. | |
| catinga | Assaí de Catinga | Fruit for making a drink. | |
| Œnocarpus | |||
| baccaba | Baccába | Fruit makes a drink and oil; leaves for thatching. | |
| batawá | Patawá | Fruit makes a drink; spinous processes used for making arrows. | |
| disticha | Baccába | Leaves for thatching. | |
| minor | Baccába miri | Fruit makes a drink. | |
| Iriartea | |||
| exorhiza | Pashiúba | Stem split for floors and ceilings, &c.; air-roots for graters. | |
| ventricosa | Pashiúba barriguda | Stem split for lances, harpoons, floors, &c.; swollen part of stem for canoes. | |
| setigera | Pashiúba miri | Stem hollowed for making blowtubes or Gravatánas. | |
| Raphia | |||
| tædigera | Jupatí | Leaf-stalks split for making boxes, partitioning houses, doors, &c. | |
| Mauritia | |||
| flexuosa | Mirití | Fruit makes a drink; fibres of twisted into string for hammocks, &c.; leaf-stalks as the last. | |
| aculeata | Caranaí | Fruit makes a drink. | |
| gracilis | Caranaí | Fruit makes a drink. | |
| pumila | Caranaí | Not known. | |
| caraná | Caraná | Leaves good for thatch; leaf-stalks used as those of Raphia tædigera. | |
| Lepidocaryum | |||
| tenue | Caranaí do Mato | None. | |
| Geonoma | |||
| multiflora | Ubimrána | These species and others allied all have the leaves more or less used for thatching. | |
| paniculigera | Ubim de Cotiwiya | ||
| rectifolia | Ubimrána | ||
| Manicaria | |||
| saccifera | Bussú | Leaves the best for thatching; | |
| spathe for caps, wrappers &c. | |||
| Desmoncus | |||
| macroacanthus | Jacitára | Bark makes “tipitis” or elastic | |
| cylinders for squeezing the | |||
| grated mandiocca. | |||
| Bactris | |||
| pectinata | Iú | These little prickly palms seem not to be applied to any particular uses. | |
| n.s. | Marayarána | ||
| elatior | Marayarána | ||
| n.s. | Unknown | ||
| macrocarpa | Iú | ||
| tenuis | Iú | ||
| simplicifrons | Iú | ||
| maraja | Marajá | Fruit eatable. | |
| integrifolia | Iú | None. | |
| Guilielma | |||
| speciosa | Pupúnha | Fruit very good and nutritious; wood very hard, black and durable. | |
| Acrocomia | |||
| lasiospatha | Mucujá | Fruit eatable. | |
| Astrocaryum | |||
| murumurú | Murumurú | Cattle eat fruit. | |
| gynacanthum | Mumbáca | None. | |
| vulgare | Tucúm | Leaf-fibres for cordage. | |
| tucumá | Tucumá | Fruit eatable. | |
| jauarí | Jauarí | Nuts for lace-bobbin heads. | |
| aculeatum | Marayá | None. Others with the same name have eatable fruit. | |
| acaule | Iú | Bark of leaf-stalks for baskets. | |
| humile | Iú | Fruit eatable. | |
| Attalea | |||
| speciosa | Uauassú | Leaves for thatch. | |
| excelsa | Urucurí | Fruit burnt for smoking rubber. | |
| spectabilis | Curúa | Leaves for thatch. | |
| Maximiliana | |||
| regia | Inajá | Fruit eatable. | |
| Cocos | |||
| nucifera | Coqueiro | The Cocoa-nut; fruit eatable. | |
The genera of Palms found in America are thirty-six in number. Thirty-two of these are entirely confined to it, while only four are common to the Old and New Worlds, as shown in the following list:—
| List of the American Genera of Palms. | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Name of Genus. | No. of species mentioned in this Work. | Species found in America. | Species of American Genera in the Old World. |
| Chamedorea | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| Hyospathe | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Morenia | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Kunthia | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Leopoldinia | 3 | 4 | 0 |
| Euterpe | 3 | 12 | 0 |
| Œnocarpus | 4 | 6 | 0 |
| Oreodoxia | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Reinhardtia | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Iriartea | 4 | 9 | 0 |
| Ceroxylon | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Raphia | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mauritia | 7 | 8 | 0 |
| Lepidocaryum | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Geonoma | 3 | 33 | 0 |
| Manicaria | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Copernicia | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| Brahea | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Sabal | 0 | 9 | 0 |
| Trithrinax | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Chamærops | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Thrinax | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Desmoncus | 1 | 14 | 0 |
| Bactris | 9 | 46 | 0 |
| Guilielma | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Martinezia | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| Acrocomia | 1 | 8 | 0 |
| Astrocaryum | 8 | 17 | 0 |
| Elœis | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Attalea | 3 | 16 | 0 |
| Maximiliana | 1 | 3 | 0 |
| Orbignia | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Syagrus | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Diplothemium | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| Jubæa | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Cocos | 1 | 17 | 1 |
| Totals | 52 | 285 | 10 |
PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES
- Silently corrected obvious typographical errors and variations in spelling.
- Retained archaic, non-standard, and uncertain spellings as printed.