This palm has been cultivated so long, so widely 

 disseminated l)y mankind, and so well naturalized 

 on tropical shores that its origin is lost in an- 

 tiquity. One belief, now discredited, was that its 

 home was American. Columbus did not find it, 

 and most early Spanish writers in the New World 

 did not mention it. Nevertheless, within a cen- 

 tury after Columbus this valuable palm an-ived in 

 Puerto Rico. Joseph de Acosta (1539-1600), a 

 Jesuit missionary in Peru from 1571 to 1587, in 

 his book "Natural History of the Indies," pub- 

 lished in 1590 after his return to Sjiain, stated that 

 he saw a coconut growing in Puerto Eico. An- 

 other Spanish traveler in Puerto Rico in 1599 



mentioned the milk of coconut as "cosmetic for the 

 ladies." In some of the Antilles, however, the 

 coconut apparently was not known until the fol- 

 lowing century. As early as 1526, Oviedo men- 

 tioned large stands, apparently native, on the 

 Pacific coast at Burica Point, Costa Rica and 

 Panama. 



Other common names. — coco, cocotero (Puerto 

 Rico) ; palma de coco, palmera de coco, coco, 

 cocotero, coco de agua (Spanish) ; coconut, coco- 

 nut-palm (United States, English) ; coco, noix de 

 coco, cocotier (French) ; coco, cocos, cocospalm, 

 klapperboom (^ Dutch West Indies) ; coco da 

 Bahia, coqueiro de Bahia, coco da India (Brazil). 



PALM FAMILY (PALMAE) 



7. Palma de sierra, sierra palm 



Palma de sierra, as its name indicates, is the 

 pretty palm which forms the palm forests along 

 upland streams on steep slopes and ridges of the 

 higher peaks of Puerto Rico. It is characterized 

 by: (1) the cylindrical slender erect trunk 4—8 

 inches in diameter; (2) several pinnate leaves with 

 sheaths about 114 feet long at base and blades 

 about 6 feet long and 3-5 feet across with long 

 narrow segments inserted horizontally on both 

 sides of axis and not overlapping; (3) numerous 

 small white male and female flowers in a once- 

 branched, drooping, white stalked cluster 3 feet or 

 less in leng-th. attached below the leaves; and (4) 

 round shiny black fruits t^ inch in diameter and 

 slightly fleshy. Prop roots covered with tubercles 

 often are present at base. 



Small to medium-sized palm to 50 feet tall with 

 slender tnmk of uniform diameter and thin nar- 

 row evergreen crown of several alternate spread- 

 ing leaves. The smooth gray or light brown trunk 

 has horizontal rings. 



The green leaf sheaths clasp the trunk at base. 

 The blade has numerous narrow linear leaflets or 

 segments 20-36 inches long and 11/4-2 inches wide, 

 long-pointed, leathery, parallel-veined, green to 

 light green on both sides, spreading horizontally 

 and at equal distances on both sides of axis. At 

 apex the segments are shortened. A few dead 

 leaves may hang down for a time before shedding 

 and forming a smooth ring scar around the trunk. 

 One to 4 new leaves are produced per year. 



The narrow flower cluster (panicle) about 3 feet 

 long is borne Ijelow the leaves. By the time fruits 

 mature the oldest leaves above have sJied, and the 

 attachment of fruit cluster is 6 inches or more 

 below base of lowest leaf sheath. There are 2 

 spindle-sliaped long-pointed sheaths (spathes), 

 the outer short and the inner long. The white 

 branches of the axis are mostly less than 1 foot 

 long, spreading out at right angles and afterwards 

 nearly parallel with axis. The small white stalk- 

 less flowers are male and female together (mono- 



Euterpe globosa Gaertn. 



ecious). Male flowers have 3 overlapping broad 

 sepals, 3 oblong white petals about Yia "ich long 

 meeting at edges in bud, 6 stamens with yellowish 

 antliers, and a rudimentary pistil. Female flowers 

 have 3 overlapping blunt sepals, 3 overlapping 

 rounded white petals about ^ie inch long, and an 

 oblong ovary. 



The fruit has a thin flesh and 1 brown rounded 

 seed %f, inch long. Sepals and petals remain at- 

 tached after fruits fall. In flower and fruit nearly 

 all the year. 



In the higlier mountains, where this is the only 

 native palm, tlie leaves or the leaf sheaths, called 

 yaguas, are used for thatch. The outer stemwood 

 is sometimes hewn into nari-ow boards for sheath- 

 ing of rural buildings. A portion of the bud of 

 this palm, known as palmillo, can be eaten as a 

 salad. However, removal of the bud kills the tree. 

 The edible part consists of the young inner leaf 

 sheaths which form a white cylinder 2-3 feet long 

 and 3— t inches in diameter. These white leaf 

 bases, though tender, are almost tasteless as a salad 

 unless seasoned. Except as a novelty for tourists, 

 the palm bud is doubtfully preferable to cabbage. 

 The fruits are an important food for the Puerto 

 Rican pan-ot. 



In general these palms of the steep mountain 

 slopes are beneficial in maintaining protective 

 cover for the watershed and in preventing soil 

 erosion. This species is now so little utilized, and 

 its growth rate so slow (less than 12 inches in 

 height per year), that it is being gradually re- 

 placed by other more useful species in the public 

 forests. It may be suitable for ornamental 

 planting. 



Common to abundant and forming pure forests 

 in the upper mountain forest region of Puerto 

 Rico, descending in ravines into the lower moun- 

 tain forests to about 1,500 feet. 



Public forests. — Carite, Guilarte, Luquillo, 

 Maricao, Rio Abajo, Toro Negro. 



40 



