MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN BULLETIN 143 



planted directly in the ground, and their remarkable develop- 

 ment since then is shown by their subsequent growth com- 

 pared with that in their native habitat. The large specimen 

 towers 20 feet in height and bears compound leaves 16 feet 

 long. The pinnules or leaflets measure 2 feet in length and 

 are arranged alternate at the base and opposite toward the 

 apex. The large petiole or stalk is triangular and covered 

 with a mealy pubescence at the basal portion. The trunk 

 measures 5 feet in height, iy 2 feet in diameter at the base 

 and tapers toward the top. It is covered with a dark brown 

 fiber which gradually decays, leaving the dark green bark 

 exposed. In general habit the plant suggests the date palm 

 but the leaves are flat and not grooved as in the latter. 

 The specimen planted adjacent to the west exit of the palm 

 house produced its first flowers in August. Both spikes were 

 staminate and consisted of many-branched spikelets which 

 were covered with small creamy blossoms with an extremely 

 strong and pleasant odor. 



Before the late war the importance of this oil-yielding 

 palm was not generally appreciated. That Germany fully 

 realized its possibilities, however, is shown by the fact that 

 during the years 1912 and 1913 her average annual import 

 of palm kernels amounted to 248,000 tons. The British and 

 French governments have now awakened to the importance 

 of this palm and have established government experiment 

 stations to assist the planters. Under cultivation palms 10 

 to 30 feet high will produce seven cones or bunches per year 

 and with full production ten cones will sometimes result. 

 A record bunch weighed fifty-six pounds, yielding 1445 serv- 

 iceable oil nuts. Where a plantation is under expert supervi- 

 sion the trees are planted 25 feet apart, aggregating 67 trees 

 per acre. The average yield would be between 536 and 670 

 bunches in the eighth year of planting. By European methods 

 of extraction the yield of oil would be l-l 1 /^ tons per acre 

 exclusive of that from the kernels. The quantity of kernels 

 obtainable from each tree varies from 26 to 35 pounds. 



Palm Oil. — To collect the fruit the natives climb the trees 

 in the same manner as described for collecting cocoanuts. 

 The crowded seeds are about the size of a large olive and 

 are surrounded by an orange-yellow outer covering or pericarp. 

 This outer integument contains 60 per cent by weight of oil, 

 and as this part is 40 per cent of the whole fruit the fruit 

 is about 24 per cent oil. When the seeds are freed from 



