THE WONDERS OF VEGETATION. 01 



nut, which the sea sometimes throws up, as large as 

 a man's head and looking very much like two melons 

 joined together. They call it Tavarcarre, and be- 

 lieve it to be the fruit of some trees growing beneath 

 the sea. The Portuguese call it the cocoa of the 

 Maldives. It has remarkable medicinal properties, 

 and is very dear. So precious was it, that when a 

 native wished to injure a neighbor, he accused him 

 of having found one of these nuts and concealed it 

 from the king, to whom it should be given up ; and 

 when one became suddenly rich it was commonly 

 said that he had either found Tavarcarre or amber, as 

 if it were a priceless treasure." 



The fruit of this palm was long known as nux 

 niedica. The tree itself bears the name of Lodoicea. 

 I ts huge fruit is often carried on the waves to consid- 

 erable distances, and hence arose the idea that the nuts 

 were produced by submarine trees. 



The realm of palm-trees is not without its mocking 

 imitations, in which nature occasionally seems to de- 

 light. A variety of ferns, called arborescent ferns, 

 and especially numerous in New Zealand, closely im- 

 itates the form and shape of palm-trees, and gives to 

 those distant landscapes an appearance utterly unlike 

 that of any other part of the world. 



