ASTROCA'RYIJK (from the Gr. astron, a star, and karyon, a nut), a genus of palms, of which about sixteen species are known, natives of tropical America, remarkable for the abundance of acute and formidable spines—in some cases a foot long—with which almost every part—stem, leaves, spathe, and fruit-stalk—is armed. They have beauti ful pinnated leaves; some of them are lofty, others are of very moderate height, as 8 to 15 ft., whilst some are almost or altogether stemless. The fruit of some species is eat able—a juicy pulp covering a stony seed—as the fruit of the Muurramuir palm (A. murumuru), the pulp of which is said to resemble a melon in flavor, has a sort of musky odor, and is highly esteemed. It is a palm of only about 8 to 12 ft. high, abundant about Path and elsewhere on the Amazon. Cattle roam the forests in quest of its fruit, and swine fatten on the seed, which they crush with their teeth, although to break it 'requires a smart blow of a hammer, and in hardness it almost resembles vegetable ivory. Another edible fruit is that of the palm (A.tueuma), abundant in the same regions. These fruits are about an inch long, the murumurti ovate, the tucumit almost globular. The tucumi palm is 30 to 40 ft. high, the stem encircled with narrow rings of black spines, which are disposed with beautiful regularity. The Tucim palm (A. vulgare),
species quite distinct from the tucunift, and more lofty, is of great importance to the Indians, and in places where it is not indigenous, is cultivated with care for the sake of the epidermis of its unopened leaves, of which they make cordage, very useful for bow stringS, fishing-nets, etc. The fiber is at once fine, strong, and durable, and may yet perhaps become important as an article of commerce. Beautiful hammocks are made of tucum thread, which are sold at about each, or if ornamented with feather-work borders, at twice that sum. Martins, in his great work on palms, has, by mistake, rep resented the tuctima instead of the tucum palm as yielding this fiber. See Wallace, Palm Trees of the Amazon, Lond., 1853. The fiber is obtained by cutting down the terminal bud or column of unopened leaves which rises from the center of the crown of foliage. The tender leaflets are then carefully stripped of their epidermis, in pale, ribbon-like pellicles, which shrivel up almost to a thread. These are tied in bundles and dried, and are afterwards twisted into thread, or made into thicker cords, by mere rolling and man ipulation.