Transcriber’s Note:
The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.
Ford & West lith. London.
PALM TREES OF THE AMAZON
AND THEIR USES.
PREFACE.
The materials for this work were collected during mytravels on the Amazon and its tributaries from 1848 to1852. Though principally occupied with the variedand interesting animal productions of the country, I yetfound time to examine and admire the wonders ofvegetable life which everywhere abounded. In the vastforests of the Amazon valley, tropical vegetation is tobe seen in all its luxuriance. Huge trees with buttressedstems, tangled climbers of fantastic forms, andstrange parasitical plants everywhere meet the admiringgaze of the naturalist fresh from the meadows andheaths of Europe. Everywhere too rise the gracefulPalms, true denizens of the tropics, of which they areivthe most striking and characteristic feature. In thedistricts which I visited they were everywhere abundant,and I soon became interested in them, from their greatvariety and beauty of form and the many uses to whichthey are applied. I first endeavoured to familiarizemyself with the aspect of each species and to learn toknow it by its native name; but even this was not avery easy matter, for I was often unable to see any differencebetween trees which the Indians assured mewere quite distinct, and had widely different propertiesand uses. More close examination, however, convincedme that external characters did exist by which everyspecies could be separated from those most nearly alliedto it, and I was soon pleased to find that I could distinguishone palm from another, though barely visibleabove the surrounding forest, almost as certainly as thenatives themselves. I then endeavoured to define thepeculiarities of form or structure which gave to each itsindividual character, and made accurate sketches anddescriptions to impress them upon my memory. Thesepeculiarities are often very slight, though permanent:—inthe roots, the extent to which they appear above theground;—in the stem, the thickness, which in eachspecies varies within very definite limits,—the swelling ofvthe base, the middle or the summit,—its generally erector curving position,—the nature of the rings with whichit is marked,—the number, direction and form of thespines or tubercles with which it is armed;—in theleaves, the erect or drooping position, the size and formof the leaflets, the angles which they form with themidrib, and the proportionate size of the terminal pair,are all important cha