422 PALMES. [foros. 



12. COCOS, Linn. 



1. C nucifera, Linn.; Roxb. Fl. Ind. iii. 614; Brandis 55G ; Kurz 

 ii. 510; Gamble 86. The Cocoanut Tree. Vern. Narel, nariyal, Hind.; 

 Narikel, Bong. ; Tenna, tenga, Tarn. ; Nari kadam, tenkaia^ kolbari, 

 Tel. ; Thenpinna, kingkena, tengina, Kan. ; Tenga, Mai. ; Pol, Cingh. ; Ong, 

 Burm. ; Jadhirdah, And. 



A pinnate-leaved palm, with annulate, often curved stem. Outer 

 wood close-grained, hard and heavy. Vascular bundles black or dark 

 purple, closely packed in the outer part of the stem on horizontal section, 

 circular or uniform, enjlosing vessels and cells. 



Cultivated throughout Tropical India, particularly near the sea-coast. 

 The following experiments have been made to determine the weight and transverse 

 strength. 



Weight. Value of P. 



Ibs. 



Skinner in 1862, No. 49, with Madras wood, found . . . 70 608 



Puckle, 4 experiments in Mysore, bars 2 feet X 1 inch X 1 in. . 47 562 



A. Mendis, Ceylon, No. 72, found ,70 



Warth, in 1878, the average of our 3 specimens, found .49 



The wood is commercially known as ' Porcupine wood ; ' it is used for rafters and ridge 



poles, house posts and other building purposes ; for spear handles, walking sticks 



and fancy work. The leaves are used for thatching, and the net of fibres at the base 



of the petioles is made into bags and paper, and is used in Ceylon for toddy straining. 



The cut flower stalks yield toddy which is fermented or made into sugar ; the kernels 



of the nuts are eaten, and the sweet fluid of the young nut is a pleasant drink ; the 



thick fibrous rind of the fruit is the ' Coir ' fibre, used for ropes, mats, and other 



articles ; the shell of the nut is made into spoons and cups and other utensils ; while 



the oil obtained from the fruit is an important article of trade and is used for 



burning, for cooking and in the manufacture of candles and soap. In fact, the uses 



of the cocoanut tree are innumerable, and much has been written about them. 



Ibs. 



E 417. Sundarbans 40 



W 768. South Kanara 55 



W 868. 



B 562. Burma 52 



No. 72. Ceylon Collection 70 



13, 14, 15. CALAMUS, PLECTOCOMIA, KORTHALSIA. 



Perhaps no genera of Indian forest plants are so little known as these, even those 

 comparatively accessible, like the canes of Dehra Dun and Darjeeling,being of very uncer- 

 tain nomenclature. When the collection of specimens for the Paris Exhibition of 1878 

 was going on, large numbers of canes were received from Burma, Assam and elsewhere, 

 accompanied by merely native names ; and being, of course, stripped of their leaves, 

 sheaths and flowers, and tied up in the bundles in which they are sold, they had to be 

 rejected, as the principle was not to exhibit anything whose scientific name was not 

 known. 



As far as regards the canes of Burma and the Andamans, Kurz's Forest Flora and 

 his ' Enumeration ' of Burmese Palms in VoL xliii. of the Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal. 1874, are of great help; Ihe canes of Sikkim are tolerably well 

 known from Dr. T. Anderson's 'Enumeration of the Palms of Sikkim' in the Linneau 

 Sorirtv's .Journal, Vol. xi., ISC'.); those of Assam, Eastern Bengal ami Oiittairong are 

 given 'in (Irilli'h's ' Palms of British Hast India' and the ' Flora Indira' of Roxburgh ; 

 but the whole nomenclature is contused, and the dillirulties in the determination of 

 species are very great. The following list has been drawn up giving the Indian species 

 ilird in those hooks which have hern accessible, but it -should IK- understood thai 



