210 



PLANTS AND MAN 



with massive trunks rough with the remains of old leaf bases. 

 The crown of foliage consists of pinnately compound leaves often 

 twenty feet in length. Huge flower clusters consist each of 

 thousands of small yellowish flowers, the pistillate inflorescence 

 becoming transformed into pendant bunches of dates. Each 

 date (fig. 149) is a berry with a thick and very sweet flesh sur- 



FiG. 150. — The coconut palm is the most important economic plant of the 

 tropics; bunches of coconuts hang beneath the leaves in the palm at the left. 



rounding the single large seed. Dates are red or yellow in color, 

 turning purplish brown when ripe. They have a greater food 

 value than most fruits; like bananas, they are rich in carbo- 

 hydrates and proteins. Date palms have been known to bear 

 fruit for over a century. Since they require less water than any 

 other fruit tree, they have assumed great importance in desert 

 regions where they often form groves known as oases around 



