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DESCRIPTIVE BOTANY. 



GOCOS, Linnaeus. (Feather Palm.) Flowers monoecious, on the 

 same spadix. Spathe simple, woody, spindle-shaped ; staminate flowers 

 on the upper part of the spadix, and the pistillate ones below. Calyx 

 of the staminate flower 3-leaved ; sepals lanceolate, keeled, and fre- 

 quently united at the base ; corolla o-parted, membranous or fleshy, 

 usually erect. Stamens 6 ; filaments awl-shaped, nearly equal in 

 length ; anthers linear and erect ; calyx of the pistillate flower ovate 

 or sub-orbicular, 3-leaved ; sepals convolute ; corolla o-parted ; petals 

 membranaceous, imbricated; ovary ovate or flattened-giobose, 1-celled; 

 style short or wanting ; stigmas 3. Fruit ovate-elliptical or 3-sided, 

 outer coating thick and fibrous, 6 to 12 inches long, and 4 to 8 inches 

 in diameter. Seed nearly globular ; testa horny, marked with three 

 spots at the top. Large palms; trees with a crown of feathery 

 leaves. 



C. nucifera, Linnasus. (Cocoanut Palm.) Trunk .50 to 100 feet high, and 

 I to 2 feet in diameter. Leaves springing from the terminal bud, alternate, 



pinnate, sheathing at base ; . 

 pinnies with decurved margins. 

 Flowers enveloped in a spathe. 

 Fruit in clusters of 10 to 20, 

 3-sided, tapering to a blunt 

 point, 6 to 9 inches long and 3 

 to 5 in diameter; outer husk 

 fibrous, enveloped in a smooth, 

 glossy cuticle ; the whole an 

 inch or more in thickness. Seed 

 a prolate spheroid, 4 to 5 inches 

 long and 3 to 4 in diameter, in- 

 closed in a horny shell, rough 

 on the outside, and one fourth 

 of an inch thick, inside of which 

 and adhering to it is a coating 

 or wall lialf an inch thick, hard, 

 Avhite, crisp, oily, and edible ; 

 the cavity within is filled with 

 a rich, limpid liquor, which is 

 very grateful to the palate. A 

 single tree sometimes has upon 

 it 120 of these gigantic nuts at 

 one time. 



There are about thirty spe- 

 cies to this genus, all tropical 

 or strictly subtropical. 



Geoqraphy. — The geographical zone of the cocoanut is equatorial, extending 

 twenty-five degrees both sides of the equator in seacoast regions. It is found 

 in higher latitudes, but does not fruit well above 25°, except in localities 

 especially favored by a high temperature, — a temperature which is seldom 

 below 75° Fahrenheit. It abounds in the coast regions of Brazil, on the West 

 ItKlia Islands, the western and eastern coast, and islands of Central America; 



Cocos NtrciPEEA (Cocoanut Palm). 



