338 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 
several other species have been found to thrive, Cairo may be still 
too near the sea to give the most favorable conditions for the coconut. 
The partial shade of gardens that seem to be well suited to Cocos 
plumosa and other Brazilian species would not favor the true coco 
palm. Shelter against cold winds may be an advantage, but the 
young palms will probably require full exposure to the sunlight. The 
coconut may behave like the doum palm, that thrives in Upper 
Kevpt but is kept alive only with difficulty in the gardens at Cairo. 
That the possibility of growing coconuts in Egypt and Palestine 
should not have been more thoroughly tested may seem very strange, 
but it should be remembered that the Mediterranean region had no 
direct communication with coconut-producing tropical countries 
before the opening of the Suez Canal. Though the Poinciana, the 
banyan (Ficus bengalensis), the Assam rubber Cicus elastica), and 
many other tropical trees have been established as ornamentals 
about Cairo and other towns, many other tropical and subtropical 
species that are likely to prove well adapted to the conditions remain 
to be introduced. Now that selected fresh nuts ean be brought by 
swift steamers from Ceylon or other parts of the East Indies, other 
experimental plantings of coconut palms will doubtless be made. 
SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 
The history of the coconut palm has relation to several different 
kinds of scientific questions, so that the facts require to be sum- 
marized from several different standpoints. 
BOTANICAL CONCLUSIONS. 
All the palms that are related to the coconut, comprising about 
20 genera and 200 species, are natives of America, with the possible 
exception of a single species, the West African oil palm. All the 
species of the genus Cocos and of the closely allied genera are natives 
of South America. The species of Cocos that are most related to the 
coconut are natives of the interior valleys and plateaus of the Andes, 
where the coconut also thrives, remote from the sea. 
Comparison of the structure of the fruit and the method of germi- 
nation of the coconut with those of the related palms indicates a 
high degree of specialization, but not for purposes of maritime distri- 
bution, The unusually large, heavy seed and the thick, fibrous husk 
are to be considered as adaptations for protecting the embryo, 
assisting In germination, and establishing the young plants in the 
dry climates of interior localities, the only conditions where this 
palm could be expected to maintain its existence in a wild state, 
The habits of the coconut palm afford no indication that its orig- 
inal habitat was on the seacoast, and none of its closer relatives 
have maritime habits or maritime distribution. The coconut palm 
