444 



THE PALMS OF BRITISH INDIA AND CEYLON, 

 INDIGENOUS AND INTRODUCED 



BY 



E. Blatter, S.J. 



Part IX. 



(With Plates XLIX—LVI, and text figure 29.) 



( Continued from page 86 of Vohime XXII ). 



LO VOICE A 8I1YCHELLABUM. (The paragraph on cultivation 

 of this palm, which was omitted in the last paper, is now reproduced 

 along with text figure No. 29.) 



Cultivation in India. — Mr. W. S. Millard has supplied the fol- 

 lowing notes : — 



There appears to be very little recorded on the cultivation of the 

 Ooco-de-mer in India. 



From information recently received from Major Gage, I.M.S., 

 there is only one plant living at present in the Royal Botanic 

 Garden, Sibpur, Calcutta, from nuts introduced in 1894. 



In Bombay, thanks to M. Dupont, the Director of the Botanic 

 Garden, Seychelles Islands, a number of nuts were introduced in 

 1908, but although two or three germinated by placing them in a 

 damp dark sitiiation, no specimen survived when planted out. In 

 most cases one leaf was thrown out, but before the second leaf appear- 

 ed the plant expired, possibly owing to the soil not being suitable. 



In 1911 M. Dupont forwarded me some more nuts, and out of 

 these five germinated, but cockroaches attacked the shoots of two 

 whilst in the dark, and these s^ibsequently died. The remaining 

 three are alive. One of them was planted last year on the Queen's 

 Road, Bomba)^, in the vacant plot next to the B. B. & C. I. Railway 

 Offices, and this plant has now thrown out a second leaf. The 

 soil is very sandy having been reclaimed from the sea, and it is 

 hoped that this plant will survive. 



The second nut was planted in the garden of the Ladies' Gym- 

 khana, Malabar Hill, and is growing slowly. 



The remaining nut I still have in a tub in my garden where it is 

 thriving and is now making its second leaf. 



Some of the nuts were given to the Victoria Gardens, Bombay, 

 and I hear that one is growing there. 



In consequence of so many failures I wrote to M. Dupont asking 

 for his opinion and advice as to their cultivation in India, and I 

 cannot do better than reproduce his remarks on this subject : — 



" I am afraid I cannot tell you much about j^our failure to grow 

 successfully oiu- Coco-de-mer. The symptoms you describe are, 

 however, such as to warrant excess of moisture and subsequent 



