Socratea
(named after the philosopher Socrates, the greatest of the Greeks). ORD. Palmae. A small genus (three to five species) of stove, unarmed palms, natives of North Brazil and Columbia. Spathes five to eight, deciduous, the upper ones complete; spadices solitary, horn-like and recurved before flowering. Fruit ellipsoid or oblong-obovoid, one or rarely two-seeded. Leaves few, terminal, equally pinnatisect; segments oblique, cuneate-flabellate, deeply laciniate, the laciniae narrow, sinuate-toothed. Only one species calls for mention here. Its aerial roots are studded with small spines, used by the Indians as a Cassava grater. For culture, see Iriartea. S. exorhiza (rooting outwards). Zanona Palm. fl., spathes five or six deciduous; spadix 1 1/2ft. long, spreading when flowering, pendulous in fruit. fr. yellowish or yellowish-green, scarcely fleshy, ovate-elliptic, eight to twelve lines long. l. 12ft. to 20ft. long; pinnae oblique, sub-trapezoid, sinuate-toothed, flat; petioles cylindrical, convolute at base. Trunk 60ft to 100ft. high. Aerial roots eight to twenty or more emerging 6ft. from the ground. Guiana, Amazons River, 1849. SYN. Iriartea exorhiza.