Family COCACEAE

Aeria.

Trunk robust or of uniform diameter; spathes 1 or 2; inflorescence short and brush-like, not exposed until the enclosing leaf below it falls away; flowers not set in rows.

Spathe single, the fruits 2.5 cm. long; leaf-divisions upright, very dark green.

Areca.

Spathes 2, fruits less than 1.25 cm. long; leaf-divisions horizontal or oblique.

Trunk robust, thickened near the middle; leaf-divisions inserted by twos and standing at different angles; inflorescence twice or thrice branched, standing close to the leaf-bases.

Roystonea.

Trunk slender, of uniform diameter; leaf-divisions at equal distances, horizontal; inflorescence once-branched, at maturity 15 cm. or more below the leaf-bases.

Acrista.

A tall slender palm evidently related toGaussia, but the embryo lateral instead of basal, and the pinnae without basal cushions.

Among palms in Puerto RicoAeriaresembles onlyAcrista, from which it is readily distinguishable by the very slender habit, the swollen base of the trunk, the much-branched slender interfoliar inflorescence, the shorter sheathing bases of the leaves, and the numerous spathes.

The embryo ofAeriais located near the longitudinal middle of the seed on the side opposite the rudiment of the style, which is here located at the base of the fruit instead of on the side as inAcrista. The albumen is also uniform, except for a small central cavity and the outer covering is fleshy rather than fibrous.

The position of the embryo is, perhaps, the most obvious difference between this genus andGaussia, but there are several other significant discrepancies. Thus the flowers are arranged 3 or 4 in a row, very seldom 5 or 6. Three fruits develop from one flower only exceptionally. The trunk is of more than medium height, and the inflorescence is in reality infrafoliar, for although the dead leaf-bases and midribs of the leaves are persistent and support the long inflorescence, this condition is not comparable to that of the cocoid and other really interfoliar inflorescences.

The tallest of Puerto Rico palms, probably attaining 30 metres and upward. The trunk is supported on a mass of coarse roots with spine-like projecting rootlets arranged in whorls. The surface of the trunk is smooth with very faint annular impressions. Near the ground the diameter is 12 to 15 cm. and increases upward to about 25 cm. at about 3 m. above the base. Above this swelling the trunk tapers very gradually and in tall specimens is less than 7 cm. in diameter at the top.

The sheathing leaf-base is only 20 cm. long. The leaves remain attached long after the rupture of the open side, but no fibers are formed, the edges of the split side being fringed only with brown membranous shreds. The petiole is rather short, round and rigid and the rachis is prominently angled above.

Segments of a rather firm texture and standing in different planes, but all more or less upright or oblique to the rachis, segments from middle of leaf 2.3 cm. wide near the base, 3.8 cm. long. The segments are set very closely together, especially the proximal, and overlap each other in a succubous manner. Fresh fruits deep orange in color and of an unsymmetrical oval in shape, 16 mm. by 12 mm., with a firm, fleshy outer covering 1.6 mm. thick, adherent to the seed, the three persistent styles remain of the same size and are located at the base of the fruit.

The seed is flattened oval, 11 mm. by 9 mm., with a prominent basal tubercle (hilum). The surface is brownish with a few shallow impressed lines, but the albumen is white and uniform. Flowers and ripe fruit were obtained at Vega Baja in December, 1899; type specimen no. 1040.

The so-called llume palm is a most striking ornament of the rugged limestone hills from Vega Baja to Manati and Arecibo. At a sufficient distance the slender trunk is no longer visible and the crown of leaves appears as if suspended in mid-air, while at closer range it does not seem possible that so slender a shaft can maintain itself. This very slenderness with the attending flexibility is however, an element of strength since it permits the trees to bend before the wind while the leaves diminish the resistance by straightening out as in the cocoanut. The hurricane of August, 1899, seemed to have done little damage to these tallest of Puerto Rico palms, many of which project for more than half their height above everything standing about them. As the trees of the rather sparse forest growth of these hills are commonly from 12 to 18 metres tall, the llume palms must often attain upwards of 30 metres.

In the western end of the island the betel palm of the Malay region has been sparingly introduced, though the fact does not seem to have been reported hitherto. A few were seen in gardens about Mayaguez and others in and near San Sebastian. So far as we were able to learn, the people do not know the name or nature of this introduced species which is apparently planted only as an ornament or a curiosity. The form is not unpleasing, but the extremely deep, sombre green of the foliage seems almost unnatural and imparts a suggestion of artificiality.

Only photographs and fruits ofArecawere secured at San Sebastian, but Puerto Rico specimens collected by Sintenis (no 5749) at Aguadilla have already been distributed from the Berlin Botanical Garden with the label “Palma Spec. Subtrib. Attaleae.”

OreodoxaMartius and more recent authors, not Willdenow.

The history of the generic nameOreodoxashows that botanical writers of the last few decades have been in error in removing the two original species and applying it to another series of similar but not closely related forms. To avoid further confusion with reference to a name which by reason of the conspicuous character ofthe trees has wide use in popular literature it seems desirable to add the following notes on the genusOreodoxaas originally established by Willdenow in the Memoires de l’Academie Royale, Berlin, 1804, a publication which seems to have been consulted very seldom, even by writers on palms.

Spathe universal, univalvate; spadix ramose, perianth monophyllous, tripartite below, the divisions ovate, acute, concave; petals ovate, acuminate, concave. Filaments six, of the length of the corolla; anthers oblong, acute. Style tripartite, shorter than the filaments, stigma acute. Ovule, drupe, and seed globose; drupe succulent, but slightly fibrous; seed single, cartilaginous, nearly smooth, marked with a longitudinal sulcus. In the discussion subsequent to the statement of the above characters,Oreodoxais said to be distinct fromBactrisin the tripartite style and in the absence of the “ordinary three impressions”; it is distinguished fromAreca, then supposed to includeEuterpeand species now generally placed inOreodoxa, in the single spathe, the triple style and the hermaphrodite flowers.

The first species isOreodoxa acuminata, referred by recent authors toEuterpebut probably constituting a distinct genus. The trunk is erect, cylindrical, very smooth, and attains a height of from 15 to 18 metres; the “root” throws out suckers at the base of the trunk. The fronds are pinnate, with opposite or alternate, very long, ensiform, acuminate pinnae, replicate at base. The strongly convolute young leaves form a green apex for the trunk, five feet high. Spathes cinereous, folded in at the base of the leaf-sheaths at the top of the trunk, univalvate, deciduous; spadix erect, much branched, having the appearance of a broom.

The heart of the bundle of leaf-bases, about two feet long and three inches thick is eaten as a salad, with oil and vinegar. It is also stated that the deciduous boat-shaped spathes serve as reservoirs of rain-water which is long retained in the cool shade cast by the trees. Birds and beasts, and human natives as well, are said to be dependent at times upon the liquid thus stored, since in the regions where the palm grows there are at times no other means of procuring water. The forests of the high mountain chain of Buena Vista in the province of Caracas are the native home of the species. It thus appears that in addition to the structural differencesOreodoxa acuminataoccupies quite a different place in nature from that of the more thoroughly tropical species commonly referred to that genus, and the stoloniferous habit also indicates a different ecology.

The second of the original species ofOreodoxais now referred to the genusCatoblastus. It is a somewhat smaller tree from 12 to 15 metres high, with a generally similar habit, and is also stoloniferous, but the pinnae are broad, cuneiform and praemorse, or irregularly truncate as in the species generally referred toMartinezia. The drupaceous fruit is grayish and the pulp is only slightly succulent; seed the size of a pigeon’s egg, its exterior brown, marbled with numerous veins. In the characters of the spathe the arrangement of the fruit and the edible quality of the heart of the leaf-cluster, as well as in the formation of lateral off-shoot this species is said to be similar to the first.

Botanists are not yet agreed upon the methods of dealing with complications like the present in regard to the names of plants, but it appears certain that those who do not recognizeOreodoxaas a genus distinct from those admitted in the more recent works on palms must associate it either withEuterpeorCatoblastus. The latter name it would in that case replace, being much older. Moreover, unless we are prepared to disregard Willdenow’s statements concerning the stoloniferous trunk, the simple spathe and the hermaphrodite flowers, to say nothing of many minor points of circumstantial evidence, there is no scientific warrant for applying the nameOreodoxato the noble Antillean species with which it has been universally associated.

The dried specimens which Willdenow studied were supplemented by notes of field observation by a court gardener, who was evidently also a botanist of some experience, to whom Willdenow refers as his “friend.” The living colors are described with considerable detail throughout the entire paper, which renders noteworthy the fact that the spathes are stated to be cinereous. This is in agreement with species ofEuterpewhich have membranous spathes, but indicates a wide difference from the West Indian trees where the spathes are thick and fleshy and remain vivid green until they open and fall away.

The nameRoystoneahas been given to this ornament of thePuerto Rico landscape as a respectful compliment to General Roy Stone, the American engineer officer who secured the admiration of the people of Puerto Rico by his fearlessness and conspicuous energy in the Adjuntas road-building campaign which flanked the line of Spanish defenses, and whose subsequent interest in the improvement of the island will undoubtedly affect its future history.

Trunk normally fusiform, 30–60 cm. thick, 12–18 m. high. Leaf segments 4–4.4 cm. in width. Inflorescence robust, compact, twice branched, the branches numerous and coarse, ferruginous, pubescent. Fruits long-oval, yellowish brown at maturity. Seeds 8 mm. by 6.3 mm., flattened about the hilum, rounded below; wall of endocarp smooth, adherent over a small area.

The royal palm of Puerto Rico differs from that of Cuba in having the trunk generally shorter, more robust and more distinctly fusiform. The inflorescence is twice branched, with the branches more densely clustered, coarser and darker colored than those of the Cuban royal palm,Roystonea regia. They are also covered with a slightly hispid brown pubescence while Cuban specimens are much smoother and more pallid. The difference of habit, to judge from photographs of the Cuban species, is most apparent when the trees have grown in the open, as when planted in avenues or along roadsides. In Puerto Rico, trees which are obliged to compete with other vegetation are often tall, slender and unsymmetrical. The typical form is shown in our photograph (no. 250) taken in the plaza of Juana Diaz.

Martius gives the width of the pinnae of the Cuban royal palm as from 8 to 12 lines. Cuban specimens show as much as one inch and a quarter, while others from Porto Rico are half an inch wider (44 mm.) of somewhat coarser texture and with more widely separated secondary veins. The fruits of the Puerto Rico palm are a deep yellowish brown when ripe, while those of the Cuban are said to become violet or bluish black. According to Martius, the fruits of the Cuban species are 6 lines by 4, but dried specimens show no such discrepancy of proportions and measure only about 8.5 mm. by 7.5 mm.

In Puerto Rico the fresh fruits are also much longer than broad, perhaps even more slender than the figures given for the Cuban;when dry they still appear somewhat longer and larger than the latter.

The seeds ofRoystonea Borinquenadiffer in several particulars from those of the Cuban species. In shape they are longer and less spherical, measuring 8 by 6.3 by 5.5 mm. instead of 7.8 by 7 by 6 mm.; the side bearing the hilum is much flattened and even slightly concave; the fibers radiating from the hilum are longer, and the corner between the hilum and the micropyle is evenly rounded, not sharply squared and prominent as inR. regia. On the back of the seed the smooth inner wall of the endocarp is closely adherent over a small area, while in Cuban seeds this wall remains attached over nearly the whole side and is furthermore distinctly rugose-coriaceous on the surface, and has a distinct sulcus in the median line.

The royal palm is not only the more conspicuous and characteristic natural object in most parts of Puerto Rico, but it probably exceeds the cocoanut in total economic importance. The most useful part is theyaguaor sheathing base of the leaf, with which a large proportion of the houses of the poorer classes are thatched or sided, or both.

The royal palm is one of the wild species which has been distinctly advantaged by human interference in natural conditions. It is a general fact that outside the climbing species palms are not successful in competing with tropical forest vegetation. Originally the royal palm and the corozo were probably confined to the more rugged slopes of the lower limestone hills where they both still retain a foothold in places where the natural growth seems never to have been cleared away. But the vast majority of royal palms now in existence in Puerto Rico stand on land which has been cultivated at one time or another, and where the palms were able to secure a foothold before the competition of other plants became too strong.

The discovery of root tubercles on a young plant of this species has been noted in the introductory statement. These tubercles though small in size are very numerous upon the smaller roots. In shape they are mostly oval and symmetrical. The larger are about 2 mm. in length though our natural-size photograph shows several fusiform or clavate bodies from 5 to 10 mm. long and asmuch as 2 mm. thick. The color of the roots and tubercles is white.

The royal palm of Florida is commonly referred toOreodoxa regia, though with very doubtful propriety. Apparently on account of its great size, Cooper (Smithsonian Report 1860: 440. 1861) was inclined to identify it withOreodoxa oleraceawhich had also been reported from the Bahamas. The inflorescence and seeds collected by Curtis on the western borders of the everglades (no. 2676) are, however, obviously not those ofR. oleraceabut are much more similar to those ofR. regia. The branches of the inflorescence are much longer and more lax than those of the species of Cuba and Puerto Rico, from which they also differ in the frequent development of tertiary branches, in this respect resemblingRoystonea oleracea. The fruits do not resemble those ofR. oleraceabut are closely similar to those of the other species though somewhat smaller and more nearly spherical. Several reliable witnesses are on record to the effect that the trees are from 28 to 35 metres high and as much as 45 metres has been claimed, while among the royal palms of Cuba and Puerto Rico 18 metres is the commonly recognized limit of size. Mr. C. T. Simpson, of the U. S. National Museum, states that the palms of southwestern Florida lack the conspicuous bulge so characteristic in the trunks of the Puerto Ricon trees, and that they grow almost in reach of tide-water, while the natural habitat of the Puerto Rico species is evidently the limestone hills. In view of these differences it seems preferable to treat the Florida royal palm as a distinct species, for which the nameRoystonea Floridanais proposed.

Mr. Simpson also informs me that the royal palms seen on the islands off the coast of Honduras had the size and habit of those of Florida and not the relatively stunted appearance of those seen by him in Hayti and Jamaica. This fact is suggestive in connection with the popular idea that the palms of Florida are to be looked upon as recent arrivals from Cuba. Instead it seems more reasonable to believe that the royal palm of Puerto Rico, like the species ofThrinaxof that island, is a remnant of the flora of the time when the limestone hills were keys and hammocks like those of southern Florida, and relatively poor in vegetation able to crowd out the palms.

Acristagen. nov.

Trunk slender, of uniform diameter. Pinnae horizontal, appendiculate. Inflorescences distinctly infrafoliar; spathes two, the outer short, the inner long and slender. Spadix once-branched, the branches coarse, tapering. Fruits with stigma lateral, seed deeply ruminate, embryo basal.

Related toRoystonea, but differing in the more slender habit, the once-branched inflorescence, the basal embryo, and in having the leaflets in one plane. The color of the foliage is also considerably lighter than that of the royal palm so that from a distance the general appearance suggests the cocoanut rather than the royal palm.

There is also some resemblance between the foliage ofAcristaandCocops, but the absence of sheathing leaf-bases in the latter genus will enable even young specimens to be separated. Moreover the leaf-divisions ofCocopsare much narrower and those at the end of the leaf are not so much shortened as inAcrista.

Further differences fromRoystoneaare to be found, such as the much smaller size and the larger roots, which are tuberculate and inclined to become superficial like those of the llume palm. The sheathing leaf-bases are not as long proportionately as inRoystonea, and there is a distinct formation of fibers, although the texture is flimsy. The outer sheaths do not split off and fall away as promptly as inRoystoneabut several dead ones sometimes hang from about the base of the crown. Although the sheath is longer than inAeriathe fibers are much better developed, there being but a few membranous shreds inAeria, and no distinct fibers at all.

Among the mountains between Cayey and Guayama many summits are covered with thepalma de sierra, probably in places which have never been cleared. A few of the palms follow down the steeper uncultivated ravines. From a distance the crowns suggest royal palms but a closer view renders the difference apparent. There is also no suggestion of the bulging trunk ofRoystonea. In height thepalma de sierraprobably does not exceed the royal palm.

The tips of leaflets of young leaves are connected by two brittle red strands both of which lie on the mesial face, one along theedge, the other near the middle. The tips of the leaflets are of the same material and are sometimes persistent as long corneous appendices like those of the cultivatedHowea.

The generic nameEuterpeGaertner, which is commonly applied to a considerable series of American palms related to the present, was in reality established for the Malayan genus for which the nameCalyptrocalyxBlume is now in use,Pinanga silvestris globosaRumphius being cited by both Gaertner and Blume as the original, in the one case, ofEuterpe globosa, and in the other ofCalyptrocalyx spicatus. The origin and identity of the seed described and figured by Gaertner have not been established, and seem likely to remain in doubt; but in describingCalyptrocalyx, Blume argued that the generic name should remain with the seeds studied by Gaertner and declared that these did not belong to any Malayan species but to some of the arecoid palms of the Mascarene Islands. This suggestion seems not to have been disposed of by Martius or others, but the fact that Gaertner’s fruits showed an apical stigma seems to exclude them from the American group with which the generic name has been associated.

In making use of the nameEuterpefor Brazilian palms Martius cites Gaertner as author of the genus and states that it is of worldwide distribution in the tropics. Gaertner’sE. globosais placed as a synonym ofE. oleracea[5]Martius, and Jacquin’s older nameAreca oleraceastands in the same relation toEuterpe edulisMartius, thus renderingEuterpe oleraceaMartius a specific homonym. Subsequently Martius claims the genusEuterpefor himself and expresses doubt whether it is the same as that named by Gaertner, while Drude in Engler and Prantl’s Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien says “EuterpeMart. (nicht Gaertn.).” Martius also admits that the West IndianAreca oleraceaJacquin is distinct from the Brazilian species ofEuterpe, and redescribes it under the nameOreodoxa oleracea.

A further complication connected withAcristawas brought to light by finding that specimens collected by Sintenis (no. 1525) in the Luquillo Mountains in northeastern Puerto Rico and distributed from the Berlin Botanical Garden asOreodoxa oleraceabelong to the present genus, together with others collected in Martinique by Hahn (no. 805) and identified at Paris. With the last, the localnamechoux palmisteis given, the same which Jacquin noted in the original description of hisAreca oleracea(Stirp. Am. 278. 1763). Moreover, it can scarcely be determined from Jacquin’s description whether he was dealing with aRoystoneaor anAcristaor with both, though his claim that his was the tallest palm of the Antilles might hold the name for theRoystonea.

It might then be argued by some that Miller’s species,Palma altissimaconstituted a segregate from Jacquin’soleraceaand that the latter name is available for theAcristaof Martinique, whether identical or not with that of Puerto Rico. But with a possible doubt between theAcristaand theRoystoneathere can scarcely be a justification for the use of the same name for a third South American species or a fourth West Indian.

As a means of decreasing the confusion it may be suggested that as neither the generic nor the specific name of the Brazilian palm which Martius calledEuterpe oleracea(Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 29) is available, the nameCatis Martianamay be proposed, the generic designation having reference to the drooping pinnae characteristic of the present species and several of its South American relatives.

Trunk smooth, 10 to 15 m. high, perhaps taller, from 12 to 15 cm. in diameter, with distinct ring-like leaf-scars and internodes, light brownish or appearing grayish with bark lichens.

Leaves about 2 m. long, the pinnae lanceolate, equally spaced and lying nearly horizontal, 55 cm. long and 4 cm. broad; the surface light green on both sides, with very close parallel longitudinal veinlets, but no visible cross veins. The sheathing bases are considerably shorter and generally appear somewhat more robust than inRoystonea. In protected situations the leaf-bases persist and the margins shrivel up and expose a flimsy network of fibers. Inflorescences appearing several close together; by the falling of the leaves above them they are left several inches below the leaf-bases before maturity is attained. Spathes fusiform, long, more slender and pointed than inRoystonea. Spadix once-branched, 1 m. long, 6 cm. in diameter at base, tapering gradually to the apex. Branches 23 cm. long and less, the proximal branches longest; at first appressed to the rachis, the branches are opened out and held stiffly erect by a fleshy turgid cushion on the upper (distal) side of the base of each. The branches of the rachis may thus be said to be hinged, and with maturity the supporting cushiondries away and allows them to resume a direction nearly parallel to that of the rachis.

The dried fruits ofAcristaare grayish brown in color and nearly smooth or somewhat coriaceous in external texture; they measure 11 or 12 mm. in length and are nearly as wide, being slightly oboval in shape. The outer wall is thin and brittle and covers a more or less distinct thin layer of amorphous brownish material probably representing the pulp of the fresh fruit; in the dry state this may adhere either to the outer wall or to the fibers next inside. Near the base these fibers are simple, pointed and vertical; about half way up they divide and anastomose and are, as it were, felted and cemented together to form an oval sac open below and closed above. The outer fibers are much coarser than the inner and there are sometimes suggestions of three layers separated by a dark-brown friable material. A few of the delicate inner fibers are adnate to the surface of the seed which is otherwise free from its fibrous covering.

Seed 8.5 mm. by 8 mm., slightly lighter in color than the outside of the fruit. Surface slightly uneven with obscure veinlike ridges and impressions of the fibers of the outer covering. The kernel is white, hard and bony, and deeply ruminate, though this is not apparent from the outside. The channels are very narrow and often radial and straight; they penetrate 3 mm. or less. Embryo directly basal; hilum lateral, somewhat below the level of the stigma; a short raphe extends about half way to the embryo.

The cocoid palms are a distinctly American group, the African oil-palm,Elaeis Guineensisand the cocoanut being the only outliers of the family which have been supposed to be indigenous in the Old World. South America is the center of distribution and is the home of a large proportion of the two hundred or more species. Only five genera reach Puerto Rico, and one of these,Cocos, was probably not a native of the island.

Trunks, stems, and midribs beset with sharp spines; seeds foraminate at or above the middle.

SubfamilyBactridinae.

Trunks and other parts unarmed; seeds foraminate at base.

SubfamilyCocinae.

SubfamilyBactridinae

Some of the numerous South American representatives of this group are nearly smooth, but the three genera known from Puerto Rico have the trunks, leaf-bases, midribs and inflorescences beset with sharp black spines, and are thus readily recognizable.

Trunk small, cespitose; leaves separated by long internodes; foramina of seeds apical.

Bactris.

Trunk medium or large, solitary; leaves crowded together at the summit; foramina peripheral.

Trunk slender; leaf-divisions broad, praemorse-truncate; pistillate and staminate flowers intermixed on the inflorescence; exocarp fleshy.

Curima.

Trunk robust; leaf-divisions narrow, sharp-pointed; pistillate flowers below and separate from the staminate; exocarp fibrous.

Acrocomia.

The type of this genus,Bactris minorJacquin, described from the vicinity of Carthagena, Colombia, is a small spiny palm with creeping rootstocks. The upright trunks are about an inch thick and twelve feet high, with long spiny internodes. The fruits are fleshy, purple, and about the size of a cherry. Several species ofBactrisare known from the West Indies though the generic name has doubtless been applied rather loosely to all the small spiny cocoid palms.

The two following species ofBactrisfrom Puerto Rico described by Martius several decades ago seem not to have been secured by recent collectors unless it be true, as suggested below, that one of them, the simple-leavedB. acanthophyllaapplies to a youngCurima. OfB. Pavonianathe narrowly grass-like leaf-divisions would be sufficiently characteristic to separate it at once from all other palms known from Puerto Rico.

“Trunk low, spiny; frond simple, the petiole spiny; blade lanceolate in young plants, oblong in the adult, cuneate at the base and bifid at apex, the margin unequally erose, unarmed; rachis and primary veins spiny on both sides; spines bristle-like, narrowed at base, those of the petiole black, those of the blades fuscous.”

“In the western part of the island of Puerto Rico, near the village of Yrurena, in swampy places on the margins of aboriginal forests at an altitude of 400 feet; collected by Wylder, 1827.” (Martius Hist. Palm.3: 281.)

A specimen to which the above diagnosis would not be inapplicable was collected by Sintenis in the mountain forests near Maricao (no. 484). It was distributed from Berlin as aMartinezia, together with two other very young plants and a seed to which one of these was attached.

The seed evidently did not come from a cocoid palm but together with the young seedlings may belong toAcrista. The large spiny plant is probably a young specimen ofCurima, and should these suggestions prove to be correct the specific nameacanthophyllamust be transferred to this genus though whether it will replacecolophyllaor not is not to be determined until it can be ascertained that the Maricao species is the same as that here described from Bayamon.

“Frond pinnate, rachis with rather long spines and black bristles: linear acuminate, about equally distant, the terminal united, setose-ciliate, glaucous below and with a sparse whitish down.”

“Puerto Rico; Pavon.” (Martius, Hist. Pal.3: 282.)

Grisebach has reported this species from Antigua and has redescribed it as follows, presumably from the Antigua specimens.

“‘Trunk low’;leaves pinnatisect: segments numerous, grass-like, linear-acuminateor the uppermost broader by cohesion, glaucous and minutely puberulous or glabrescent beneath, approximate, subequidistant, reduplicate at the base:rachis armed with very long black pricklesand rare bristles, keeled above.—Flowers unknown; leaf segments (in our specimens, which are cut off, perhaps about the middle of the rachis) more than 30–jugal, 3‴–6‴ distant, 12″–8″ long, 4‴–2‴ broad, superior gradually shorter, the uppermost cohering ones sometimes 6‴–8‴ broad: prickles scattered or clustered, slender, the greatest 2″ long. Hab. Antigua:Wullschl., Blubber valley; [Portorico].” (Grisebach, Fl. Brit. W. I., 520. 1864.)

Curimagen. nov.

Trunk rather slender, internodes armed with scattered slender spines. Leaves and inflorescence also spiny, especially on the proximal parts. Pinnae numerous, strap-shaped, praemorse-truncate, imperfectly separated near the ends of the leaves. Inflorescence rather slender, once-branched; pistillate flowers mostly located near the bases of the branches. Fruit drupaceous, exocarp fleshy, not fibrous; foramina peripheral.

A palm related toAcrocomiaand to the genera commonly grouped under the nameMartinezia, to whichAiphanesandMararaare generally referred as synonyms. Reasons why none of these names appears available for the Puerto Rico species are given below. The characters of the fruit, with foramina near the middle, seem to indicate thatCurimais not remotely related toAcrocomia, from which it differs superficially in the more slender habit, the truncate or praemorse leaves and the very long and lax inflorescence.

The solitary trunk rises from a mass of spiny roots somewhat smaller than those of the llume palm (Aeria). Diameter of trunk from 1–1.5 cm., often slightly thinner near the ground, though showing no such tendency to bulge as appears inRoystonea,AeriaandAcrocomia. The surface of the internodes is rather sparingly provided with needle-like spines smaller and more slender than those ofAcrocomia. On old trunks the spines are often more or less completely absent.

Leaves 2.13–2.5 m. long, with from 30 to 40 pairs of strap-shaped praemorse-truncate divisions shorter and broader as the end of the leaf is approached, and with a terminal undivided area several inches wide. There is no apparent tendency toward the arrangement of the leaf-divisions in clusters as inMartinezia caryotaefoliaand other allied species.

The base, rachis, midribs and even the surfaces of the pinnae are beset with coarse black or deep red spines which are closely appressed when young and become erect as soon as the surfaces are exposed, all the parts except the spines and the upper surfaces of the leaf-division being covered at first with a light grayish or brownish scurfy coating which gradually disappears.

The inner spathe is narrowly fusiform and about 1 m. long. It splits to the level of the outer spathe revealing the spadix and its extremely spiny peduncle. The flowers are greenish cream colored in mass, paler and not so yellow as inAcrocomia. The pistillate flowers are relatively very few and located near the base of the simple branches.

The cherry-like fruits are dull orange or brick red with rather dry fleshy or oily exocarp having a rather mealy though distinctly acid flavor, but no really unpleasant taste. This fleshy covering is only very slightly fibrous, and that near the base; the seeds fall off very easily sometimes leaving the base of the exocarp attached to the fruiting branch. The nut is about 12 mm. in greatest or transverse diameter and about 10 mm. high, while the fresh fruit is 14–16 mm. through and 12 or 13 mm. thick. The surface is deeply and irregularly pitted and marked with three radially fibrous striate foveolae.

It is perhaps too soon to assert that there is only one species of the present genus in Puerto Rico. The trees certainly differ considerably in size though not more than the cocoanut and others. There is also a noticeable difference in the abundance of spines. Such apparent variability may, however, be due to age, the older trees tending to become less densely beset with the brittle black spines which are often conspicuous on young specimens.

The specimens (no. 878) and photographs on which this genus and species were based were secured on the limestone hills near the wagon road between Bayamon and Toa Baja where the present palm is not uncommon.

Curimaappeared to be especially abundant about Bayamon but is probably rather generally distributed in the limestone hills of the island, perhaps also on other soils. A few trees were seen along the road between Utuado and Lares, and numerous others between Isolina and Manati. Sintenis collected specimens of what is apparently the same species near Juncos and Hato Grande, and at Maricao young specimens discussed underBactris acanthophylla.

As far as Puerto Rico is concerned, this palm is very easily recognized by means of the curiously truncate leaf-divisions, the outer margins of which appear as though accidentally injured oreaten away by caterpillars. This feature is, however, shared with numerous other West Indian and South American palms, though apparently only one, the so-calledgrigripalm of Martinique can be referred to the present genus with confidence. For this the nameCurima corallina(Martinezia corallinaMartius, Hist. Nat. Palm. 3: 284) appears to be correct, although Martius places Gaertner’s much olderBactris minimaas a synonym for his species. Gaertner, however, was making a second attempt at renaming Jacquin’sBactris minor, having previously misplaced that name in connection with a West IndianAcrocomia, probably the same to which Jacquin had already supplied the nameCocos aculeatus. Thus it is possible to treatBactris minimaGaertner as a synonym ofBactris minorJacquin and the restoration of Gaertner’s inappropriate name for theCurimais thus avoided.

With this preliminary description we may return to the consideration of the generic namesMartinezia,AiphanesandMararawhich other writers have applied to relatives of the present palm or treated as synonyms.Martineziawas described by Ruiz and Pavon (Prodr. Flor. Per. et Chil. 148. 1794) for five Peruvian palms, but it was amended by Martius (Hist. Nat. Palm.3: 283) by the removal of all the original species and the substitution of a new set. Of the original species studied by Ruiz and Pavon only two,M. ciliataandM. abruptawere mentioned in connection with the original description of the genus, and this because they offered exceptions to the generic characters. If these were to be excluded for this reason from those among which the type is to be sought, the nameMartineziamust go with the subsequently publishedM. ensiformis, now referred toEuterpe[6]or withM. lanceolataandM. linearis, now placed inChamaedorea. If we hold to the first species,M. ciliata,Martineziais probably a synonym ofBactris. The second species,M. abrupta, has escaped Martius and the Index Kewensis, in which a sixth nameM. interruptais the only one by Ruiz and Pavon now credited as being a genuineMartinezia. Thus by the method of eliminationMartineziawould according to current classification replaceChamaedoreawhile by the method of types it would stand as a synonym ofBactris.

The genusAiphaneswas established by Willdenow onAiphanesaculeata, a spiny palm from the mountains about Caracas. The trunk is said to be erect, ten meters high, subcylindrical and very spiny. The leaves are about 1.6 m. long, with four pairs of remote, broad, cuneate, praemorse pinnae, strongly whitish pubescent on the under side; the petiole is also beset with spines. Spathe acuminate at both ends, aculeate on the outside, smooth within, opening longitudinally; spadix 4.5 dm. long, composed of cylindrical spikes placed opposite. Flowers hermaphrodite; calyx trifid, the divisions acute; petals acuminate; filaments 6, subulate, anthers rounded, style as long as the stamens, stigma trifid; drupe globose, the fleshy farinaceous pulp rather tasteless, though edible; nut hard, of the size of a musket ball, unilocular, black, furrowed with a large number of grayish grooves, of which three are always much larger than the others. The kernel is white, very sweet, and very good to eat.Aiphanesgrows in the ravines and forests of the high mountains of the district of Caucagua, province of Caracas, Venezuela and requires a fertile, somewhat moist soil. It flowers and fruits in July.

From the above it appears thatAiphanesis a genus quite different fromCurima, approaching some of the South American species ofBactrismuch more closely than it resembles the Puerto Rico tree.

The genusMararawas based by Karsten (Linnaea,28: 389) onM. bicuspidatafrom Colombia, a cespitose palm having a trunk 7 meters high and 10 cm. in diameter, clothed with black spines 6 to 8 mm. long. The leaves are 125 cm. long with from 60 to 80 pairs of cuneate pinnules which measure 3 dm. in length and 15 cm. in width, and are clustered in sixes or eights. This appears to be a very extreme development of the leaf-arrangement seen in the cultivated palm commonly calledMartinezia caryotaefoliawhere the leaflets are distinctly clustered, but by no means so crowded as must be the case when on the side of a leaf 125 cm. long are leaflets with an aggregate width of 10–13 m.

The palm commonly cultivated in conservatories asMartinezia caryotaefoliais obviously allied toCurima, perhaps more closely than to eitherAiphanesorMarara, but in addition to the clustered pinnules it has a more slender habit, especially apparent in the long internodes and the more lax inflorescence. This differencein habit is also evidently correlated with the fact that the leaf-bases do not become deeply gibbous and obliquely inclined from the trunk as inCurimabut remain closely sheathing. Moreover, the upper side of the leaf-stalk which in the Puerto Rico palm is deeply channeled and has lateral corners sharp or torn into fibers nearly to the insertion of the lowest pinnae is in the conservatory species nearly cylindrical for a long distance below the pinnae, and has long spines on the upper side as well as on the lower. It is as though the ligule were located inCurimanear the insertion of the lowest pinnae while in the other form it remains close to the trunk, with a cylindrical section intercalated to reach to where the pinnae begin. Apparently we are dealing with still another generic group for which the nameTilmiawould not be inappropriate in allusion to the shorn and disheveled appearance which it shares withCurima. The species studied areTilmia caryotaefolia(Martinezia caryotaefoliaH.B.K. Nov. Gen. et Sp.I: 305.pl. 699) in the National Botanic Garden andT. disticha(Martinezia distichaLinden, Cat. 32. 1875).

The seeds ofTilma caryotaefoliaare like those ofCurima, but considerably larger, rounder, and much smoother. The foramina are peripheral, but are much smaller and more shallow, those ofCurimabeing surrounded, as it were, by a prominent rim which adds somewhat to the apparent width of the seed. In both genera the nuts are unsymmetrical, the side which has the largest foramen being distinctly larger than the others and inCurimathe irregularly pitted sculpture is coarser.

A genus of palms distributed through tropical America from Mexico to Cuba and Paraguay. All the species are of stocky, compact growth, with a dense crown of numerous leaves. The trunk and the leaf-stalks are usually armed with strong, sharp spines, sometimes several inches long.

Although totally different on close inspection this genus has in Puerto Rico a superficial resemblance to the royal palm, which often deceives travelers. The similarity lies mostly in the two facts that both the royal and corozo palms are more robust and stiffly erect than the cocoanut, and that the leaf-divisions instead of lyinghorizontal and in one plane are tilted at different angles to the midrib, thus giving the foliage seen in the mass a somewhat unkempt appearance in comparison with the cocoanut.

In distinguishing the corozo palm from the royal palm when seen at a distance so great that the spines of the one and the columnar green leaf-sheaths of the other can not be seen, recourse may be had to the following facts. The leaf crown of the corozo palm is much rounder, thicker and more compact than that of the royal palm, since it contains many more leaves, and these persist much longer. The royal palm can also be known by the unopened leaves which project straight upward like flag-poles or lightning-rods, while inAcrocomiathe leaves open as they are pushed out and seldom offer a suggestion of the spire-like effect.

Trunk 20–30 cm. in diameter near the base, thickened above to 50 cm. or less; height commonly about 6–8 m. rarely exceeding 10 m. Surface of trunk with slight annular impressions. Internodes armed with slender black spines, the larger 10–15 cm. long, mostly confined to the lower half of the internodes. Fruit green, becoming yellowish, the husk firmly fibrous, inedible; about 35 mm. in diameter, nearly spherical in shape, with a distinct apical papilla. Kernel 25 mm. wide by 22 mm. long; width of the cavity 18 mm. The type specimen was collected near Ponce (photograph no. 255).

TheAcrocomiaof Puerto Rico seems to differ fromA. aculeata(Jacquin) in its robust habit and somewhat bulging trunk, while it is less stout and less swollen thanA. fusiformis(Swartz). The nameAcrocomia lasiospatha, although used by Martius and Grisebach has no warrant for supplantingfusiformisof Swartz, which must be preferred for the Jamaica species with the thick, swollen trunk.

In Jamaica there seem to be at least two species ofAcrocomia, the larger of which is called the “great macaw” palm, and is described as having a fusiform trunk as thick as a man’s body. What is presumably the same species occurs in Cuba as shown by a photograph from the vicinity of La Gloria on the north coast. The greatest diameter of the trunk is three or four times the thickness near the base. In Puerto Rico no trees approximating these proportions were observed, the greatest amount of swelling probably not reaching twice the diameter below. According to MazaAcrocomia lasiospathagrows wild in Cuba and is known under the name “coroja de Jamaica.” Swartz described hisCocos fusiformison the supposition that it was distinct from theCocos aculeatusof Jacquin, from Martinique, by reason of the fusiform trunk. The species was, nevertheless, reduced by Martius to his South AmericanAcrocomia sclerocarpa, perhaps because the spathe is said to be spiny, a character probably subject to great variation.

Jacquin’s nameAcrocomia aculeata(1763) must, it seems, be used for the West Indian palm placed by Martius under hisA. sclerocarpa, which is to be maintained, if at all, as a South American species. Jacquin declares that the habit of his tree is similar to that ofCocos nuciferaandCocos amara(Syagrus), and his figure shows a tall straight trunk tapering slightly upward, with no tendency to bulge. The spines of the trunk are few and the midribs are aculeate on both sides. The drawing of the fruit is 37 mm. long by 41 mm. wide and has a broad conic papilla at apex. As indicated above, such a tree was not noticed in Puerto Rico where all the corozo palms are distinctly, though slightly, thicker some distance above the base, though apparently never equalingA. fusiformisin this respect.

Trunk distinctly ringed, rising from an inclined swollen base; leaves numerous, many of the lower drooping or pendant, the divisions many and narrow; fruits very large, borne continuously.

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