38 
VARIOUS FOOD-PLANTS 
quantities of peanuts and Brazil-nuts are eaten, while in 
some places the coconut constitutes the chief, sometimes 
almost the only, food. The importance of nuts, to mankind, 
Fic. 
Fig. 
25.—Chestnut. A, twig bearing two clusters of pistillate flowers, 
and a small immature cluster of staminate flowers. 8B, a single cluster 
of three pistillate flowers protruding from among the bracts which 
form a cup around them. C, a single pistillate flower, showing six 
elongated stigmas and a bell-shaped calyx of six sepals formed above 
the ovary. D, the same, cut vertically to show the ovules at the base 
of the flask-shaped ovary. Z£, a single staminate flower, showing the 
numerous stamens surrounded by the calyx of six sepals joined at the 
base. The figures all somewhat enlarged. (Baillon.) 
26.—Chestnut. <A, ripe fruit, showing the now spiny bract-cup or 
‘‘burr’’ split open and exposing three nuts within. Reduced. B, one 
of the side nuts, showing at the tip the stigmas and calyx. About 
two-thirds natural size. (C, the middle nut, showing the scar of at- 
tachment at base. D, a side nut, cut vertically to show the seed within 
containing a large embryo gorged with starchy food. (Baillon.) 
therefore, is much greater than we commonly suppose, con- 
sidering that with us they are used scarcely more than as 
luxuries. 
