“There is much sameness in the form of the leaves, which are either feathery (pinnata), or fan-like (palmo-digitata); the leaf-stalk (petiolus) is either without thorns or is sharply serrated (_serrato-spinosus_). The leaf-form of _Caryota urens_ and _Martinezia caryotifolia_, which we saw on the banks of the Orinoco and the Atabapo, and subsequently in the Andes, at the pass of Quindiu, as high as 3200 feet above the level of the sea, is almost as peculiar among palms as is the leaf-form of the Gingko among trees. The habitus and physiognomy of palms are expressive of a grandeur of character which it is difficult to describe in words. The stem (_caudex_) is simple, and very rarely divided into branches after the manner of the Dracæna, as in Cucifera thebaica (the Doom Palm), and in Hyphæne coriacea. It is sometimes disproportionately thick, as in Corozo del Sinu, our Alfonsia oleifera; of a reed-like feebleness, as in Piritu, (_Kunthia montana_), and the Mexican Corypha nana; of a somewhat fork-like and protuberant form towards the lower part, as in Cocos; sometimes smooth and sometimes scaly, as in the Palma de Covijaó de Sombrero, in the Llanos; or, lastly, prickly, as in Corozo de Cumana and Macanilla de Caripe, having the thorns very regularly arranged in concentric rings. “Characteristic differences also manifest themselves in the roots, which, in some cases, project about a foot or a foot and a half from the ground, raising the stem on a scaffolding, as it were, or coiled round it in a padded-like roll. I have seen viverras and even very small monkeys pass under the scaffolding formed by the roots of the Caryota. Occasionally the stem is swollen only in the middle, being smaller above and below, as in the Palma Real of the island of Cuba. The green of the leaves is either dark and shining, as in Mauritia Cocos, or of a silvery white on the under side, as in the slender fan-palm, _Corypha Miraguama_, which we saw in the harbour of Trinidad de Cuba. Sometimes the middle of the fan-like leaf is adorned with concentric yellow and blue stripes, in the manner of a peacock’s tail, as in the prickly Mauritia, which Bonpland discovered on the Rio Atabapo.