YampolskY: Stiidy of OU palni. 13Q 



If for the présent we ignore cliaracters otiier tlian pericarp, sliell and 

 kernel we find tliat tliose three éléments of the fruit are highly variable. 

 The constancy of thèse characters in inheritance is up to ,the présent 

 iinknown. The few isolated observations that hâve been reported are more 

 suggestive than convincing. They do at least indicate that of the large 

 number of varieties three tend to maintaiii a limited constancy. Thèse are 

 now being tested out. The classification of Beccaki (-) based entirely on 

 the characters of the fruits, unsubstantiated by genetical investigations, is 

 at best a highly artifical one. This criticism applies to the works of those 

 who hâve published before him and many of those who hâve published since. 



Thèse preliminary remarks hâve been made to justify a doser exami- 

 nation of those forms in Elaeis which appear to shov^ genetic constancy. 

 In another publication (^'*) I hâve recognized three types of fruit as showing 

 tendencies towards stability (thick, médium and thiii-shelled) and two 

 others the so-called pisifera with no shell and the diwakkawaka with 

 six accessory carpels, forms that although distinct, may very well be 

 pathological and teratological forms. 



Différences in fruits. 



The différences in the three forms are différences in the proportions 

 of the three éléments, namely pericarp (epi and mesocarp) shell (endocarp), 

 and kernel. \w Figures 58 and 59 Plate Vlll, the cross and longitudinal 

 sections of a thick-shelled form are seen. The shell occupies, in proportion 

 to the rest of the fruit, the largest volume. The pericarp which yields the 

 commercial product is very much reduced as well as the kernel which 

 yields kernel oil. The variations that exist in the size of the kernel find a 

 parallel in the variations in the size of the fruits within a bunch. The fruits 

 at the end.of the branches, that is the outside fruits, are, because of their 

 position, larger than the inner fruits. In bunches where only few fruits 

 hâve been set thèse grow unusually large giving rise to fruits perhaps one 

 and one half times the size of normal fruits. Such fruits hâve been given 

 varietal names by Beccari {^) and Annet ('), the socalled macrocary a variety. 



\x\ the longitudinal section of the thick shelled form bast fibres run 

 from the base of the fruit through the pericarp, around the shell ending 

 at various levels, some running through to the tip of the fruit, in early 

 stages of development, before the shell is formed, the bast fibres are found 

 traversing the whole length of the growing fruit and when the shell is 

 ultimately laid down many of the fibres in the région occupied by the 

 shell are included in the shell structure so that there is a direct communi- 

 cation between the shell, the pericarp, and the fruit bunch. 



The triangular cavity in the center of the cross section of Figure 58 and 

 the longitudinal furrow in Figure 59 indicate the cavity within the kernel. 

 This cavity is homologous with the large water containing cavity of the 



