Palms of Puerto Rico 567 



Acrocomia lasiospatlia grows wild in Cuba and is known under the 

 name " coroja de Jamaica." Swartz described his Cocos fusiformis 

 on the supposition that it was distinct from the Cocos aculeatus of 

 Jacquin, from Martinique, by reason of the fusiform trunk. The 

 species was, nevertheless, reduced by Martius to his South Amer- 

 ican Acrocomia sclerocarpa, perhaps because the spathe is said to 

 be spiny, a character probably subject to great variation. 



Jacquin's name Acrocomia aculeata (1763) must, it seems, be 

 used for the West Indian palm placed by Martius under his A. 

 sclerocarpa, which is to be maintained, if at all, as a South Amer- 

 ican species. Jacquin declares that the habit of his tree is similar 

 to that of Cocos nucifera and Cocos amara (Syagrus), and his 

 figure shows a tall straight trunk tapering slightly upward, with 

 no tendency to bulge. The spines of the trunk are few and the 

 midribs are aculeate on both sides. The drawing of the fruit is 

 37 mm. long by 41 mm. wide and has a broad conic papilla 

 at apex. As indicated above, such a tree was not noticed in Puerto 

 Rico where all the corozo palms are distinctly, though slightly, 

 thicker some distance above the base, though apparently never 

 equaling A. fusiformis in this respect. 



Subfamily Cocinae 



Key to the Genera of Cocinae 



Trunk distinctly ringed, rising from an inclined swollen base ; leaves numerous, many 

 of the lower drooping or pendant, the divisions many and narrow ; fruits very large, 

 borne continuously. COCOS. 



Trunk nearly smooth, straight and columnar ; leaves fewer, not becoming pendant, di- 

 visions less numerous and broader ; fruits small, borne at one time and ripening to- 

 gether. Coco ps. 



Cocos nucifera Linn. Sp. PI. 1 1 88. 1753 



The cocoa-palm is largely confined to the neighborhood of 

 the coast, but is occasionally planted in small numbers in the in- 

 terior districts, though it generally does not thrive in such situa- 

 tions especially on the north side of the island. On the drier 

 southern slope of Puerto Rico, which is avoided by the royal palm, 

 the cocoanut seems to thrive better, when it has once become es- 

 tablished. Cocoanuts are mostly gathered while still green, for 

 the sake of the milk or, as it is there called, the water (coco de 

 agua) a popular beverage wherever obtainable. Although the 



