Page:Aspects of nature in different lands and different climates; with scientific elucidations (IA b29329668 0002).pdf/143

 *[Footnote: sometimes arranged like the teeth of a comb, set on in the same plane, and close to each other, and having a very rigid parenchyma (as in Cocos, and in Phœnix the genus to which the Date belongs); whence the fine play of light from the sun-beams falling on the upper surface of the leaves (which is of a fresher verdure in Cocos, and of a more dead and ashy hue in the date palm); sometimes the leaves are flag-like, of a thinner and more flexible texture, and curl towards the extremities (as in Jagua, Palma Real del Sinu, Palma Real de Cuba, and Piritu dell' Orinoco). The peculiarly majestic character of palms is given not only by their lofty stems, but also in a very high degree by the direction of their leaves. It is part of the beauty of any particular species of palms that its leaves should possess this aspiring character; and not only in youth, as is the case in the Date-palm, but also throughout the duration of the life of the tree, The more upright the direction of the leaves, or, in other words, the more acute the angles which they form with the upper part or continuation of the stem, the grander and more imposing is the general character and physiognomy of the tree. How different are the character and aspect given by the drooping leaves of the Palma de covija del Orinoco y de los Llanos de Calabozo (Corypha tectorum); the more nearly horizontal or at least less upright leaves of the Date and Cocoa-nut palms; and the aspiring heavenward pointing branches of the Jagua, the Cucurito, and the Pirijao!

Nature has lavished every beauty of form on the Jagua palm, which, intermingled with the Cucurito or Vadgihai,]*