446 Mr. G. Clark on the Cocoa-nut of the Seychelles Islands. 



a reserve in the iutcrior 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 

 catkin 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 arc 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 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, as in 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 arc 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 i^racts; 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 in an 

 interesting manner the different substances of which it is 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 peri sperm, 

 a jelly-like mass, presenting much the appearance of cold starch 

 very slightly tinged with blue. This has a sweetish taste, and 

 is 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. In the mature state, which is not till seven or 



