In 1875, Rodrigues published "Enumeratio Palmarum Novarum", describing a number of new palm taxa. In subsequent years, an English botanist who had met Rodrigues in Brazil, James William Helenus Trail, published some of the same species and even claimed precedence over Rodrigues. Despite this dispute over primacy, which lasted for many years, in 1903, Rodrigues published a classic work on palms, "Setum Palmarum Brasiliensis". This was a survey of over 380 species of palms, 166 of which were newly described. Financed by the Brazilian government, it was printed in Belgium and lavishly illustrated with some 170 of Rodrigues's watercolors.