Missouri Botanical 
Garden Bulletin 
Vol. Il St. Louis, Mo., September, 1914 No. 9 
PALM FRUITS AND SEEDS 
An exceedingly interesting collection of palm seeds, com- 
prising forty-five species, has recently been received from 
the Botanical Garden, at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. From 
these seeds it is hoped that the Garden may acquire a number 
of new species and new specimens of species already in the 
collection. The time required for the germination of palm 
seed varies with the species and ranges from a few weeks in 
such forms as the Chinese fan palm (Livistona chinensis) 
to as much as three years in some of the attaleas. 
Palm fruits are extremely variable as ag. ipa size, ranging 
from the small cherry-like structures of the various species 
of the genus Sabal to the huge fruits of the cocoanut palm. 
A similar variation exists as regards the consistency of the 
fruits. At one extreme are fruits, like those of the date 
palm, with a fleshy edible covering, and at the other are 
_ fruits, exemplified by those of the cocoanut palm, which have 
an extremely large, dry, fibrous husk covering the seed. In 
the date, therefore, it is the covering of the seed which is 
edible whereas in the cocoanut it is the seed itself which is 
eaten, the fibrous covering, or husk, being used for the manu- 
facture of cordage, mats, etc. The seed, while varying greatly 
in shape and size in the various species, conforms to one 
woes: iy , that of a hard nut-like structure more or less 
ed with a firm kernel rich in oil and proteins. Notably in 
the ee ad ee Bos seed is hollow, the kernel oc- 
cupying only the peripheral portion. 
Aside Biri ie are importance of palms as decorative 
plants, both in tropical and temperate countries, these plants 
yield many products of great commercial value. Of these 
there should be mentioned, in the category of foods, dates, 
cocoanuts, sago (coming from the pith of the stems), and 
oil (prepared from the fruits of the so-called oil palms). 
Only about one-half million dollars worth of dates are an- 
nually imported into the United States, but in the principal 
date-producing countries of the Old World enormous quan- 
tities are consumed, serving as one of the chief articles of 
food. Besides the large e in fresh cocoanuts, large quan- 
tities of the meat of nuts are dried, yielding copra, of which 
Ceylon alone exports about forty-five million pounds an- 
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