The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . the splendid Cucuiito adornsthe granite rocks in the cataracts of the Orinoco at Atures and Maypures. The fronds,which are but few in number, rise almost perpendicularly sixteen feet high, from thetop of the lofty columnar shaft, and their feathery leaflets of a thin and grass-like textureplay lightly round the tall leaf-stalks, slowly bending in the breeze. The physiognomyof the palms depends also upon the various character of their efflorescence. The spatheis seldom vertical, wi
The polar and tropical worlds : a description of man and nature in the polar and equatorial regions of the globe . the splendid Cucuiito adornsthe granite rocks in the cataracts of the Orinoco at Atures and Maypures. The fronds,which are but few in number, rise almost perpendicularly sixteen feet high, from thetop of the lofty columnar shaft, and their feathery leaflets of a thin and grass-like textureplay lightly round the tall leaf-stalks, slowly bending in the breeze. The physiognomyof the palms depends also upon the various character of their efflorescence. The spatheis seldom vertical, with erect fruits; generally it hangs downwards, sometimes smooth,frequently armed with large thorns. In the palms with a feathery foliage, the leaf-stalks rise either immediately from thebrown rugged ligneous trunk (cocoa-nut, date), or, as in the beautiful Palma Ileal of 9i the Havana, from a smooth, slender, and grass-green shaft, placed like an additionalcolumn upon the dark-colored trunk. In the fan-palms, the crown frequently restsupon a layer of dried leaves, which impart a severe character to the The form of the trunk also varies greatly, sometimes almost entirely disappearing, asin Chamcerops humills; sometimes, as in the Calami, assuming a hush rope appear-3e, smooth or rugged, unarmed or bristling with spines. In the American Yriartcas. aDCe 541 THE TROPICAL WORLD. the trunk, as in the mangroves, and many of the screw-pines, rests upon a number ofroots rising above the ground. Thus the T. exorrhiza, which grows on the banksof the Amazon to the hight of a hundred feet, frequently stands upon a dozen or moresupports, embracing a circumference of twenty feet, and the trunk begins only six oreight feet from the ground. The Yriartea ventricosa is still more curious, as thespindle-shaped trunk, which at the top and at the bottom is scarce a foot thick, swellsin the middle to a threefold diameter, and, from its convenient form, is frequentlyused by the Indians for the
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