Cocos.] LXXVII. PALM^E. 557 



Hist. Nat. Palm, ii. t. 88. The Cocoa-nut Tree. Sans. Narikera, nari- 

 Jcela, langalin. Vern. Narikel, Beng. ; Narel, nariyal, Hind. ; Kobbari 

 chettu, Tel. ; Ung ben, Burm. 



Trunk annulate, often'curved or flexuose. Leaves 6-12 ft. long, pinnse 

 distichous, equidistant, linear-lanceolate. Sheath of inflorescence of a 

 woody texture, cylindric, 2-3 ft. long, outside with numerous longitudinal 

 elevated lines, inside smooth shining. Peduncle (spadix) erect, stout, 

 divided into short thick branches, female flowers on these and at the base 

 of the numerous slender drooping spikes which are thickly covered with 

 the male flowers. Fruit ovoid, indistinctly 3-cornered, 10-15 in. long, 

 the fibrous pericarp covered by a thin membranous epidermis. Cavity of 

 the albumen large before maturity, filled with sweetish acidulous juice 

 (Cocoa-nut milk), from which, as the seed ripens, the cellular tissue of 

 the albumen is gradually formed. When the seed germinates, the grow- 

 ing embryo is maintained at first by the oil which fills the cells of the 

 albumen, and which is gradually transformed into sugar and other sub- 

 stances soluble in water. 



Cultivated nearly throughout the tropics, particularly in the vicinity of the 

 sea, in Asia, in parts of Africa, in America, and on the islands of the Pacific ; 

 somewhat beyond the tropics, on the Canary Islands, in Lower Sindh and Ben- 

 gal. On the Mysore plateau, cultivated like the Betel Palm in irrigated groves 

 below the large tanks. Its original home and the history of its spread are 

 not yet sufficiently known. The Sanscrit name indicates its ancient culti- 

 vation in India ; it was, however, not known to classic writers, and it seems 

 certain that it was introduced by the Portuguese into Western Africa and the 

 Cape Verde Islands, and that it did not exist in the West Indies, Guiana, nor 

 Brazil at the time of the discovery of America. It has been supposed to be 

 indigenous in the Indian Archipelago and on the Nicobar and Coco islands of 

 the Bay of Bengal' and this would explain its early cultivation on the coasts 

 of India and Ceylon. But the nineteen species of this genus enumerated by 

 Martius are all indigenous in Mexico or South America, excepting G. nucifera 

 and C. mamillaris, Blanco, which Blume (Rumphia, iii. 84) considers as a 

 dwarf variety with small fruit of the Cocoa-nut. Considerations of botanical 

 geography would therefore point to the west coast of Central America as its 

 home. Martius, indeed (Palms, i. 188), considers it not improbable that the 

 original home of this Palm was on the islands near the Isthmus of Panama, 

 and that the nuts were transported thence by westerly currents to Cocos Island, 

 200 miles west of the coast, which was found densely covered with Cocoa-nut 

 trees, by its first discoverer, without any sign of human habitations. From 

 there it is not difficult to explain the farther spread of the nuts by the regular 

 currents and by storms to the Sandwich, Marquesas, and other islands of the 

 Pacific, and to the islands of the Indian Archipelago, whence it may have been 

 introduced into India. The Cocoa-nut is said to preserve its vitality for a long 

 time floating in sea- water of a certain temperature. A. De Candolle, Geographie 

 Bot. ii. 976, seems inclined to accept the American origin of the Cocoa-nut, and 

 Grisebach (Vegetation der Erde, ii. 11) entertains no doubt on the subject. In 

 India the Cocoa-nut flowers in the hot season, and the nuts require 9-10 months 

 to come to maturity. 



The manifold uses of the Cocoa-nut tree are well known : the outer wood of 

 the stem is close-grained with dark-brown vascular bundles ; it works smooth 

 and takes a good polish. It weighs 70 lb., value of P. 608, Skinner ; 46 lb. 



