Guilielma
(named in honour of Queen Frederica Guilielma [Wilhelmine] Carolina of Bavaria). ORD. Palmae. A genus (included, by Bentham and Hooker, under Bactris) containing three species of elegant stove palms, confined to the tropical regions of South America. Flower-spike branched. Fruit ovate, about the size of a peach, produced in large pendulous bunches. Leaves pinnate, hairy; leaflets and footstalks spiny. Trunk slender, marked with circular scars, and armed with exceedingly sharp spines. For culture, see Bactris. G. speciosa (showy).* l. 2ft. to 4ft. long, pinnate; pinnae about 1ft. long, 1in. wide, apex broader, bifid, deep green nerves on the upper sides clothed with slender black bristles; petioles broadly sheathing at the base, thickly armed with slender long black sharp spines. Stem tall, densely spiny, slender. Amazon. SYN. Bactris Gasipaes.
G. utilis (useful). fl. monoecious. Seeds edible, having the flavour of chestnuts. l., young ones broad and bifid, bristling with short spines, which spring from the ribs or veins, the ridges of the upper surface and the costa beneath being the parts furnished with them; mature ones forming a handsome pinnate head; petioles densely spiny. Trunk slender, spiny. Costa Rica, 1873. (G. C. 1873, 1271.)