74 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HIST. SOCIETY, Vol. XXII 



We do not know the source of Seemann's statement which is 

 to the effect that Lodoicea bears only one spadix in each year ; but 

 what he adds, vv^., that, it has often above ten spadices in bloom at 

 once, becomes intelligible from Waby's observations.^ 



Fruits. — The statement as to the time which the fruit takes to 

 reach maturity vary a good deal. William Hooker w^rites : "Twelve 

 months elapse, from the time of the appearance of the germen, 

 before the fruits are fully ripe ; and they have been known to hang- 

 three 5^ears on the tree before falling to the ground.'" 



C, Button informed Thiselton-Dyer in aietter that the period 

 was much longer : "It remains seven years before arriving to its 

 perfect maturity and falls to the ground. This experience has 

 been several times made by me personally ; but the proprietors of 

 Coco-de-mer trees generally break the fruit at about four years of 

 age for commercial piirposes, as the shell at that time is sufficiently 

 hard.'*'" The same period for ripening the fruit is assigned by 

 Gordon and K. Wald,^ whilst others, v. g. Trimen, state that from 

 the time of flowering to the maturation of the fruit, a period of 

 nearljr 10 years elapses. 



Thiselton-Dyer thinks that " the discrepancy had arisen from 

 a confusion between the time at which the fruits are gathered and 

 that at which they are really mature.'' 



Habitat. — Seychelles : on the Isles of Praslin and Curieuse and 

 Round Island. Endemic. 



R. W. Plant, the well-known explorer of Port Natal, has the 

 following note about the native coimtry of the Double Coco-nut, 

 in a letter, dated Port Natal, April 16, 1855, and addressed to 

 John Smith at Kew." 



"In the Seychelles I more nearly realized my preconceived 

 ideas of tropical vegetation than at any other place ; — the beach 

 fringed with common Coco-nuts; the ravines and watercourses 

 overhung with Bananas, Bamboos, and three or four indigenous 

 palms ; the open ground full of Pine-apples — miles of them run 

 wild ; the tops of the mountains covered with forests of Ebony 

 and Rosewood, interspersed with Tree-Perns of some twenty to 

 thirty feet high ; and then these glorious Lodoicea with their 

 leaves of fifteen to twenty feet span, and trunks reaching to the 

 sky ; to sa}^ nothing of Cinnamon and Cloves and Bread-fruit all 

 new to me in this their natural wildness and beauty : you may 

 believe that I enjo5^ed it ; so much so that I nearlj^ forgot the 

 errand that brought me there. We have many beautiful scenes 



1 Cf. ad hoc : Wald, K., Lebensbaeume. Regensburg, 1906, p 60, Rothe, K. 



C. Palmen-Studien. Wien, 1910, p. 34. 

 - Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., 1. c, p. 226. 

 ^ Wald, K., Lebensbaeume. Regensburg, 1906, p. 60. 



Also : Rothe, K. C. Palmen-Studien. Wien, 1910, p. 34. 

 * Seemann, B. History of the Palms. London, 1856, p. 241. 



