142 MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 



of 90° F. is maintained, and kept fairly moist. Upon germina- 

 tion the entire seed or nut should be potted in sandy soil. 

 ("are should be taken to bring the soil merely to the base 

 of the shoot, as there is a tendency to damp off if planted too 

 deep. Further transplanting is governed by the rapidity of 

 growth, Fnless the temperature of the greenhouse is kept 

 at 70 V. it is useless to attempt the artificial cultivation of 

 the cocoanul palm. 



THE AFRICAN OIL PALM 



The African oil palm (Elans guineensis) is indigenous to 

 the western portion of Africa where it is found growing in 

 the open valleys within two hundred miles of the coast. It 

 will not thrive in dense forests but is frequently found asso- 

 ciated with low undergrowth. The tree is very slow-growing 

 and is 120 years old before its maximum height of 60 feet 

 is attained. Mature plants have a very strong trunk, the 

 upper part of which is clothed with coarse fiber. The leaves 

 forming the crown or head often are 20 feet long. The fruit 

 is borne in bunches which are called cones or hands. The 

 flowers are very small and cream-white in color, the different 

 sexes being borne on separate flower spikes. On young trees 

 these spikes are small and produced in great numbers, but 

 as the tree increases in age they become much larger and 

 less numerous. For many years the planting of the oil palm 

 was one of the first acts of the African natives upon settling 

 on virgin ground, and as the trees were never cut down when 

 they left for other regions the number increased from year 

 to year. The natives valued the palm for its oil-yielding 

 seeds and for the fiber surrounding the trunk, while the leaves 

 were used in making cordage, mats, etc., and the midribs 

 were supposed to keep off insects from the body. 



During the St. Louis World's Fair arrangements were made 

 by the Garden with Mr. S. P. Verner to collect rare African 

 plants after taking the pygmies back to their native home 

 in the Congo region. Tn 1906 Mr. Verner returned to the 

 city with a large collection of plants and seeds, among which 

 the African oil palm was identified upon its germi- 

 nation in the propagating houses. On account of the crowded 

 condition of the greenhouses at that time growth of these 

 young plants was extremely slow at first. In 1918 they were 

 still in six-inch pots, with leaves two feet long. With the 

 completion of the palm house these small specimens were 



