446 Mr. G. Clark on the Cocoa-nut of the Seychelles Islands. 
a reserve in the interior of the catkin. They appear one or two 
at a time at the floral opening, to blow and fall in their turn. 
This most curious arrangement prolongs the blossoming of a 
eatkin to the unequalled period of six or eight years. The 
calyx of these flowers is prismatic and entire, and slightly cleft 
into three unequal lobes. The corolla is composed of three 
little linear petals, concave at their extremity, and alternating 
with the divisions of the calyx. The stamens are from twenty 
to thirty in number, and the anthers slightly sagittiform. The 
pollen is yellow, and, seen through the microscope, appears 
much like grains of barley, not only i in shape, but also in being 
furrowed longitudinally—a form common, I believe, to the 
pollen of palms in general. A gummy exudation, of a rather 
strong and peculiar ‘smell, covers the surface of the catkin. In 
the female flowers the spadix is simple, asin the males ; but, in- 
stead of growing in a straight line, it forms a zigzag, from the 
angles of which the flowers spring. These flowers are about 
3 inches in diameter. The calyx is sessile, and is formed of two 
circles of bracts, three in each circle, firmly imbricated, and 
almost enclosing the ovary previous to its fecundation. The 
calyx is attached to the spadix by two oval bracts; but these 
remain attached to the spadix, while the calyx falls with the 
fruit. The flower has neither corolla nor style. Three sharp, 
persistent, sessile stigmas rest on the top of a fibrous drupe, 
generally a little compressed vertically, two-, sometimes (but 
rarely) three-sided—in the former case containing a 2-lobed 
nut, in the latter a 3-lobed nut. It also sometimes happens that 
two 2-lobed nuts are contained in the same drupe, and this is 
less rare than to find one with three lobes. This drupe attains 
a length of upwards of 15 inches, and a circumference of more 
than 3 feet, weighing from forty to fifty pounds. 
About three years after fecundation the fruit has attained 
nearly its full size, and is then called Coco tendre. It may, in 
this state, be easily cut through with a knife, and exhibits m an 
interesting manner the different substances of which it 1s com- 
posed. First externally is the drupe itself, green on the outside 
and whitish within, of a harsh taste and astringent quality, like that 
of the ordinary cocoa-nut. Next comes what will form the hard 
shell of the nut. This is lined with a layer of a white feculent 
substance, almost tasteless. ‘This covers a yellow matter, very 
bitter and said to be poisonous, which envelopes the perisperm, 
a jelly-like mass, presenting much the appearance of cold starch 
very slightly tinged with blue. This has a sweetish taste, and 
1s considered cooling, and is much esteemed by the Seychellois. 
In the centre of this, at the point of junction of the two lobes, 
lies the embryo. Tn the mature state, which is not till seven or 
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