46 The Philippine Journal of Science 1922 
cess of decay at one end of the underground trunk, which occurs 
while the other end is vigorously growing and dividing. 
The division of the underground trunk is symmetrical and 
regular. Very soon after germination the underground stem 
begins to branch, which is shown by the fact that the leaves 
develop from two buds, or growing points. These buds grow 
farther and farther apart as leaf stalks accumulate between 
them, and each divides again after about two years. (See 
Plate 1, fig. 2.) When the four- or five-year-old tree begins to 
bear fruit it has four growing points, which are about a meter 
apart and form a rough square; these later divide into eight. 
Plate 1, fig. 3, shows a palm of eight buds or, more probably, a 
part of a palm of many more buds, which is beginning further 
division. The clump in the foreground and that in the back- 
ground were originally one plant, though at the time of the 
picture the connecting underground trunk had probably rotted 
away. There is no way of telling how far away these palms are 
from the original place of germination, but they seem to rep- 
resent not more than one-half of the total growth from one 
seed, 
A nipa palm does not attain to full height until it is about 
ten years old, but at this age it apparently reaches a stable 
state of continuous growth and division at one end of the trunk 
and decay at the other. So far as the writers can ascertain a 
cultivated nipa grove is never replanted. Whether a very old 
grove gives less or more tuba than a young one cannot be 
stated accurately from available data, but the difference if any 
is not great. 3 
The difference between nipa groves in different regions is 
marked. The writers’ experiments have been confined chiefly 
to Manila Bay, Capiz, and Catarman, Samar. The Manila Bay 
swamps are characterized by their generally cultivated condition. 
The estimate of 30,000 liters of tuba per hectare‘ seems to be 
higher than is commercially realized on the average, though 
yields as high or higher are obtainable from small sections 
which bear well. The tendency of nipa to bear fruit varies 
a great deal according to the care of the grove (thinning of the 
nipa and elimination of underbrush) and other influences not 
so well understood. 
The Capiz nipa is characterized by markedly larger leaves 
than are seen in Manila Bay. The size of fruits and quantity 
“Pratt, op. cit. 379. 
