COCOACE/E. 643 



powder sugar, so that the average produce of each tree is about 7 or 8 

 j)ounds of sugar annually. This date sugar is not so much esteemed 

 as cane-sugar, and sells for about one-fourth less, (Roxb.) Baskets, 

 boxes, mats and punkahs are made with the leaf- stalks. 

 b.paludosa, Roxb. {ji. ind. '6, p. 789.) f?^9t Hiatal. 5 Soonderbuns, 

 where it forms a considerable part of those impenetrable woods, which 

 completely cover that extensive tract of country. Fl. H. S. ; fr. C. S. 

 The trunks of the smaller trees serve for making sticks. The larger 

 ones serve for rafters to the houses of the natives, and the leaves for 

 thatch. (Roxb.) 



E. CoCOEiK. 



(Coco'inse, Mart.; — Endl. gen.pl. \,p. 254.) 

 El^is, Jacq. {Spreng. syst. 2,/?. 13, No. 1350; — Endl. o. c. p. 255.) 

 I. guineensis, Jacq. {Amer. t. 172; ed. pict. t. 257; — Gdrtn.fr. I, p. 

 17, t. 6,/. 2;— Lam. ill. t. 896 ;~Spreng. syst. 2, p. 141.) Oil Palm, 

 b Guinea. W. Indies. Introduced in 1836, and thriving, though 

 growing very slowly. Palm-oil is obtained from the fruit of this tree, 

 which is also said to yield the best kind of Palm-wine. 

 Cocos, L. {Spreng. syst. 2, p. 14, No. 1353 ; — Endl. gen. pi. \, p. 256.) 

 1. nucifera, L. {Spreng. syst. 2, p. 141 ; — Roxb. fl. ind. 3, p. 614; — J. 

 Grah. Cat. B. pi. p. 225 — Coccos nucifera, Gurtn. fr. I, p. 16, t. 4, 

 b.—Rheed. 1, t. 1-4, inch— Rumph. l,t. 1, 2.) •»tr<tC<PoI Narikel. L. 

 b Shores of equinoctial Asia, and its islands, &c. Fl. H. S. ; fr. C. S. 

 The root is sometimes masticated instead of the Betle-nut. In Brazil 

 baskets are made of the small fibres. The hard case of the stem is 

 converted into drums, and used in the construction, of huts. The 

 lower part is so hard as to take a beautiful polish, when it resembles 

 agate. The reticulated substance at base of the leaf is formed into 

 cradles, and, as some say, into a coarse kind of cloth. The unexpanded 

 terminal bud is a delicate article of food. The leaves furnish thatch 

 for dwellings, and materials for fences, buckets, and baskets ; they 

 are used for writing on, and make excellent torches ; potash in abun- 

 dance is yielded by their ashes. The midrib of the leaf serves for 

 oars. The juice of the flower and stems is replete with sugar, and is 

 fermented into excellent wine, or distilled into arrack, or the sugary 

 part is separated as Jagary. The tree is cultivated in many parts 

 of the Indian islands, for the sake not only of the sap and milk it 

 yields, but for the kernel of its fruit, used both as food and for culinary 

 purposes, and as affording a large proportion of oil which is burned 

 in lamps throughout India, and forms also a large article of export to 

 Europe. The fibrous and uneatable rind of the fruit is not only used 

 to polish furniture and to scour the floors of rooms, but is manufac- 

 tured into a kind of cordage, {Koir,) which is nearly equal in strength 

 to hemp, and which Roxburgh designates as the very best of all ma- 

 terials for cables, on account of its great elasticity and strength. The 



