THE COCOANUT. 95 



The female blossoms of the cocoanut are near the base of these spikes, while the 

 more numerous male blossoms occupy the remaining terminal space. As in most 

 palms, the blossom is beautiful from the great number of florets rather than from any 

 individual grace. In favorable places these clusters are produced about every forty 

 days during the rainy season, and each cluster ripens from five to fifteen nuts, thus 

 affording a succession of fruit the year round on each bearing tree. 



ORIGIN OF COCOlNUT CULTURE IN THE UNITED STATES. 



Because of certain differences observed in the trees and nuts that are found 

 growing along the Florida keys, and of the fact that the cocoAuut is often carried 

 from shore to shore in warm countries by ocean currents, it has been believed, and 

 apparently with good reason, that the first trees in Florida came from several sources, 

 probably from nuts that drifted from South and Central America, as well as from 

 Cuba and other West India Islands. At Key West, and about some of the old forts, 

 nuts were planted at an early day and groves were cared for, as certain old trees yet 

 standing bear witness. At Lake Worth there are trees, planted about 1860, that are 

 about 40 feet high, and have been bearing since they were five or six years old. They 

 have never been damaged by cold, although there have been several slight frosts 

 there since they were planted. Of one tree grown on Biscayne Bay it is said that 

 the fruit has a reddish husk; of other nuts it has been claimed that there are 

 two varieties the green and the yellow. In 1877 a bark freighted with cocoinuts 

 was caught in a storm off the Florida coast and was beached near Lake Worth. 

 From this cargo several thousand nuts were saved, and their satisfactory growth 

 gave an impetus to cocoanut planting in Florida. Of the varietal differences among 

 the cocqjjinuts grown in Florida, no systematic study has yet been made. The first 

 importation of named varieties of the cocoanut was made in 1889. The Secretary of 

 Agriculture then obtained, through the courtesy of the State Department, two ship- 

 ments of selected named varieties of East India cocoinuts from the Philippine Islands. 

 These, with two other shipments made early in 1890 (four shipments in all) from the 

 same islands, comprehended 14 varieties, which are believed to be the best of 24 

 varieties then reported as growing in those islands. In obtaining and forwarding 

 these, the United States consul at Manila, Alex. R. Webb, exercised great care and 

 much effort, as not more than two or three kyids grow in any one district or island of 

 the archipelago, and it was found necessary to send a competent man on a tour of 

 the islands to collect the nuts. 



The consignments of nuts were received at the Division of Polomogy in good 

 condition, and were promptly forwarded to Florida to several careful propagators at 

 Manatee, Palm Beach, Key West, Lake Worth and Cocoanut Grove. The varieties 

 were: 



Graudes, signifies large ones. 

 Caputiformis, signifies skull shaped. 

 Rubiscens, signifies fair, reddish. 

 Maputi, signifies white. 

 Pequinitos, signifies little ones. 

 Cayomamis, signifies rocky, or hard fruit. 

 Bahan, signifies . 



Polac, signifies red. 



Bosa, signifies probably flowing nut or fruit. 



Boraves, signifies . 



Dajila (Ilegia mig.), signifies hard nut. 

 Dajila Patot (Pumila mig.), signifies soft nat. 

 Tayoraamis (Sacharina mig.), signifies sweet nut. 

 Mamilaris, signifies woman's breast. 



Mr. Webb writes : " It is impossible to get an English translation of all the names 

 on the list of cocoanuts, as they belong to various dialects and some of them have no 

 meaning beyond ' cocoanut.' Bahan and boraves are in the Visayas dialect and are 

 unknown to the Tajalo or Ilococ natives here. They may be taken as meaning mill- 

 stones, and perhaps the natives gave them these names as signifying their hardness. 

 Bahan may also mean a rock, head, or skull. The nuts of Mamilaris were procured 

 from the islands of Albay and Misamis. They are of the smallest known variety, 



