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southern Europe. The prepared fruit of this tree is too well 
known and appreciated to need description here. It is dioecious, 
that is it bears the staminate and pistillate flowers on different 
plants, so that the precaution is usually taken to artificially ferti- 
lize the female flowers to insure a good crop of fruit. It attains 
a height sometimes of 80 feet, terminating in a crown of elegant 
gray-green leaves. It has many other economic uses in addition 
to its fruit, which, of course, is its most important product. The 
leaves are made into brooms and brushes, and the thick fiber which 
binds the petioles together is manufactured into all kinds of rope 
and twine. To the inhabitants of northern Africa and the oases 
of Sahara this palm is of inestimable value, in fact it is the great 
resource of that region. Their houses are made from its leaves 
and trunks; the wood is used for fuel; the dates form a large 
part of the food, both for man and beast ; and even the date stones 
are consumed by the cattle after first being soaked in water to 
soften them. 
Immediately back of the Phoenix group is another palm with 
a spiny trunk, Martinesia caryotacfolia, from South America. 
Nearby is a plant of Yrachycarpus Fortunei, the Chusan palm, 
from northern and central China. The trunk is clothed with a 
very strong brown fiber which is used by the Chinese for many 
purposes, such as the manufacture of ropes, hats, and other wear- 
ing apparel. 7. excelsus, from Japan, a closely related species, is 
also in the collection. 
The genus Cocos occupies a place near the entrance to house 
no. 2, the aroid house. With the exception of the cocoanut 
palm, C. ucifera, they are natives of South America, largely of 
Brazil. There are two plants of C. plumosa, one on either side 
of the walk, about 25 feet tall; this is a native of Brazil. In 
extreme contrast with this is the delicate little C. Weddelliana, 
another inhabitant of Brazil. Its graceful leaves of a rich shining 
dark green with their narrow drooping segments give this little 
plant a dainty and well-kept appearance which readily accounts 
for its popularity as a decorative plant. Of C. xucifera, the true 
cocoanut, there are several specimens, ranging from 2 to 10 .feet 
in height, the smaller ones having been germinated at the Garden. 
