<:ocos.] PalmecB. 



ZZ7 



For a very full account of the uses of this palm in Ceylon, reference 

 may be made to ' The Palmyra Palm,' by W. Ferguson, printed at 

 Colombo in 1850 (reprinted if""' 



10. COCOS,"^ Limi. 

 Unarmed, erect, moncecious palms; 1. pinnatisect, leaflets 

 narrow, sides reduplicate in vernation; spadix at first erect, 

 simply panicled, branches drooping, elongate, many-fld., 

 usually with solitary male fl, in the upper part, and with 

 solitary fem. or 2 males and an interposed fem. in the lower 

 part ; spathes 2 or more, elongate, simple, lower woody; male 

 fl. : — sep. 3, small, valvate, pet. 3, valvate, stam. 6, pistillode 

 minute or o; fem. fl.: — much larger, sep. and pet. 3 each, 

 orbicular, convolute, staminodes a fleshy disk; ov. 3-celled 

 (2 empty), style very short, stigmas 3, ovule subbasilar; fr. 

 large, ovoid, trigonous, i -seeded, style terminal, pericarp thick, 

 fibrous, endocarp bony or stony, with 3 basal pits, indicating 

 the 3 cells of the ov. ; seed cohering with the endocarp, 

 embryo small in fleshy or horny endosperm, opposite to one 

 of the pits. — Sp. 30; I in Fl. B. hid. 



*C. nucifera, L. Sp. PI. 1188 (1753). Pol, S. Tennai, T. 



Herm. Mus. 50. Burm. Thes. 182. Fl. Zeyl. n. 391. Moon, Cat. 63. 

 Thw. Enum. 2)'h'^- C. P. 3744. 



Fl. B. Ind. vi. 482. Hort. Mai. i. tt. 1-4. 



Trunk 40-80 ft., 1-2 ft. diam., thickened and ascending 

 at the base, inclined, black, rarely forked; 1. 12-18 ft., leaflets 

 2-3 ft, linear-lanceolate, acuminate, flaccid, bright green, 

 petiole 3-5 ft., stout, unarmed; spadix 4-6 ft. straw-col'd., 

 simply branched, shortly stoutly peduncled, branches flexuous, 

 densely fascicled; spathe 2-3 ft., narrowly oblong, tapering at 

 both ends, glabrous or downy, splitting longitudinally; male 

 fl. small, yellowish; sep. yV in,, ovate, acute; pet. \ in., oblong- 

 lanceolate; fil. subulate, anth. linear, erect; fem. fl. few, 

 bibracteolate; sep. about i in., concave, pet. rather smaller; 

 ov. seated on an orange-col'd. disk; fr. trigonously obovoid, 

 oblong or subglobose, 6-10 in. long, endosperm forming a 

 thick white layer of a fleshy fibrous oily substance, adherent 

 to the membranous testa, which again is adherent to the 

 almost stony black endocarp. 



Universally cultivated throughout the low country, especially near or 

 •on the sea-coast, but not wild. 



* From the Portuguese name Coco or Coquo, given to the fruit from 

 a fancied resemblance to a monkey's face. 



PART IV. Z 



