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Palm trees of the Amazon and their uses

Chapter 40: PLATE XXVIII. Bactris pectinata, Martius.
By Alfred Russel Wallace
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About This Book

The work surveys numerous Amazonian palm species through detailed descriptions and forty-eight plates, focusing on morphological characters—stems, roots, leaves, inflorescences, and fruit—to aid identification. The author records native names and documents how local peoples employ palms for food, fibers, brooms, oils, and building materials, while noting variation in form and habitat distribution. Botanical remarks on genera, species distinctions, and geographic range accompany personal field observations and practical uses. Several taxa are illustrated from original drawings and compared with specimens in botanical collections to support accurate identification and application.

PLATE XXVIII.
Bactris pectinata, Martius.

Iú, Lingoa Geral.

The stem of this species is from six to ten feet high, very slender, strongly ringed or jointed and smooth, but all other parts of the plant, the petioles, sheaths, spathes, &c., are prickly. The leaves are regularly pinnate, with the leaflets long, narrow, pointed and hairy beneath. The long sheathing bases of the petioles are persistent, covering the stem often half way down to the ground.

The spadices grow from among the persistent leaf-sheaths; they are very small, simple or two- or three-branched, and have a small persistent fibrous spathe. The fruit is very small and globular and of a red colour, and is not eatable.

This very hairy and prickly little palm grows in the sandy Catinga forest of the Upper Rio Negro and in the most exposed localities. It seems to agree well with the B. pectinata of Martius.

A fruit is shown on the Plate of the natural size.

Pl. XXIX.

W. Fitch lith. Ford & West Imp.

BACTRIS —— Ht. 12 Ft.