Acrocomia
(from akros, top, and kome, tuft; referring to the position of the leaves). ORD. Palmae. A genus of South American palms, containing about eleven species, which are not easily distinguished, but having the following general characteristics: Trunk from 20ft. to 50ft. high, and clad with long prickles. The flowers, which appear in the axils of the lower leaves, are greenish or yellow, and their drupes are much the same colour. Leaves pinnate, with seventy to eighty leaflets on each side of the pinnae. They require a warm greenhouse and rich sandy loam. Increased by suckers. Two species only are in general cultivation.
A. aculeata (prickly). h. 40ft. West Indies, 1791.
A. fusiformis (spindle-shaped). h. 40ft. Trinidad, 1731. A. globosa (globular). h. 20ft. St. Vincent, 1824.
A. horrida (horrid). h. 30ft. Trinidad, 1820.
A. lasiospatha (hairy spathed). l. drooping. Trunk about 40ft. high, smooth and ringed. Para, 1846.
A. sclerocarpa (hard-fruited).* A very elegant species bearing a head of spreading pinnate leaves, with the rachises and petioles aculeate, and the leaflets linear, taper-pointed, glaucous underneath, about 1ft. long. h. 40ft. West Indies, 1731. SYN. Cocos fusiformis.
A. tenuifolia (narrow-leaved). h. 30ft. Brazil, 1824.