433 



Kut and difficulties in oil extraction, (5) its possibilities. The 

 plant.? mentioned above, as having fruited, are situated for the most 

 part in the Botanic Garden-, 8inga])ore; but two of a row of four 

 plants in front of the Ifaffles Museum, Singapore, have also fruited, 

 rhese plants are all ahout the same height and were probably raised 

 from one particular batch of seeds, several consignments of which 

 have been received and successfully raised at the Botanic Gardens, 

 at various times. In view of this it can be safely assumed that all 

 the plants now fruiting are of the same age. No record has heen 

 found to indicate the exact age of the trees, but as a result of careful 

 enquiries it has been established I)eyond doubt, that they arc from 

 25 to '"^0 years old. Care has been fallen to avoid understating the 

 age, in order that experiments from a commercial point of view, 

 should not be attempted under a misapprehension as to the length 

 of time which mu>t elapse betweeii tlie time of sowing tlie seed and 

 the fruiting period. 



Up to the latter of part of 1918, the plants of Aitalea Cohnne 

 in the Botanic (Jardens, Peradeniya, Ceylon had not ])ru(hice(l 

 fruits. 



General Description of the Palm. 



Atfalea Cohune, Mart. — the Cohune Nut Palm, A ma^'- 

 nificent feather-leaved palm wliich attains a height of about 40 

 feet. In the ordinary way the old leave.-; are cut off and the leaf 

 bases remain on the stem giving it a very rugged appearance. 

 These leaf bases afford a firm footing for ferns, etc., which when 

 established are very ornamental and in the Botanic Garden the 

 palms are so kept. When the leaf bases are thus allowed to 

 remain the stem takes on quite a distinctive shape At the base 

 it is from 1-2 feet through and gradually thickens ii))ward until 

 at the crown it becomes fully 4-6 feet through. The effect tlius 

 produced is certainly striking as the stem is three times thicker 

 at the top than at the bottom. In a specimen from which the leaf 

 bases have been removed the trunk is smooth and cylindrical, there 

 being little difference in size the whole way up. The leaves are 

 produced abundantly at the top of the trunk, are fully 20 feet in 

 length and form a magnificent crown. The pinnae are placed close 

 together on the rliachis and are lield more or less rigidly at right 

 angles to it, thus giving a flat surface to the leaf. The leaf he- 

 comes twisted at a short distance from the hase with the result that 

 the pinnae of the upper three quarters of it have their edges towards 

 the light instead of their faces, as in the older leaves of the majority 

 of the palms. Also, about two thirds of the way up, the rhachis 

 makes another bend, producing a very gracefully curved upper part 

 to the leaf. Tlie infloi-escences are produced in the axils of 

 the leaves in fair (juantity and are at first enclosed in large tough 

 fihrous S])athes from 5 to G feet long and ^ inch in tliickness. 

 These Iat.ter are more or less boat shaped and extend at the apices 

 into horn like structures al)0ut two inches in lengtli. Tiiey soon- 

 split longitudinally on tlie up])er surface and remain during the 

 flowering and part of the fruiting j^eriod. Apparently they play 



