Dec. 1, 1865.] 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



271 



ness in the stem of the Lodoicea (different from all 

 other Palms) requires a special arrangement to pre- 

 vent the shattering of the noble trunks, nothing 

 could be conceived of more effectually suited to the 

 purpose than the play and rolling of the stem in this 

 mechanical ballaud-socket "universal joint;" the 

 roots piercing the socket, however, must possess 

 greater toughness and flexibility than any gutta- 

 percha-coated wire cable, to avoid being torn out of 

 the ground, or frittered to rags, when we consider 

 the strain put upon them by the amount of leverage 

 from the great height of the trunks ; and there are 

 other difficulties in understanding the mode of 

 growth and development. Did the socket nourish, 

 and protect, and nurse up the stem, or did the stem, 

 as it grew to maturity, elaborate and deposit the 

 materials for the socket ? The Coco-de-mer bowl is 

 of the substance and colour of the shell of the nut ; 

 but that it can be no swollen enlargement of the 

 nut, from which the tree has grown, is plain from 

 the mode of germination, so fully described and 

 figured by Sir W. J. Hooker, in Nos. 2,734 to 2,738 

 of the Botanical Magazine, new series. The 

 germ rises from the sinus of the lobes of the nut, 

 and extends itself to a considerable distance from 

 its parent seed before it takes root. The outer ex- 

 tremity then penetrates into the earth, and from a 

 cleft in the thickest part near the middle, throws up 

 the plumule, which gradually and slowly forms leaves, 

 and grows up into the tree. 



So far, then, we see no preparation for the forma- 

 tion of this bowl underneath, and loose from the 

 trunk; and it seems easier to trace the mode and 

 purpose of its growth, if it may be supposed to be 

 formed as the tree attains age, as a sort of tuberous 

 excrescence of agglomerated roots, which have 

 gradually enlarged and liardened and thickened till 

 it forms a powerful bulbose buttress, to hold firmly 

 in the earth the towering stem with all the enormous 

 weight it was destined to support, each drupe or 

 fruit frequently attaining a length of eighteen 

 inches, with a circumference of three feet, and 

 weighing from forty to fifty pounds. 



Some similar tendency of growth seems to be 

 exhibited in another Palm, namely, the conical masses 

 of what are called "aerial roots" of the Iriartes 

 ventricosa, of which protuberances very sonorous 

 musical instruments are made. 



There is a beautiful illustration of these sort of 

 supplemental buttress-roots, which it is in the 

 power of any one to watch. The Indian Corn [Zea 

 Mays), in a favoui-able garden soil and aspect, will, 

 even in England, shoot up to the height of eleven or 

 twelve feet, its shining silky tassels of the styles 

 waving to every breeze; but as these wither 

 (the pollen of the upright male spikes having 

 been shed upon them), the fecundated female 

 spikes begin to swell, and due preparation is made 

 for the considerable bulk and weight they are to 



attain to. Then may be seen little pinkish buds 

 issuing from the joints of the stem, from an inch to 

 fifteen inches or more above the surface of the soil ; 

 these gradually grow and anchor themselves firmly 

 in the earth, and thus help to steady the stem, a,nd 

 enable it, with its ever-hardening flinty outer cuticle, 

 to support the heavy heads of maize as the grains fill 

 and ripen. Now, the grasses have been counted 

 as near, though plebeian, relations of the " princely 

 Palms;" so perhaps a free pardon may be insured 

 for thus introducing " a mere grass " into a chapter 

 on this king of the " princely Palms," if any of my 

 readers will turn to Longfellow's entrancing allegory 

 of the first gift of the Maize to the Red Man, in the 

 " Song of Hiawatha." 



The object of the digression was to call attention 

 to the nature of these supplemental, and what may 

 be called buttress-roots, and to ask, can the curious 

 colander-like bowl be formed of such, amalgamated, 

 as it were, into a massive state in the course of 

 growth? It has been suggested by a very acute 

 observer, that the specimen at Kew may have been 

 the base of some very old tree cut down years ago, 

 and with all the softer internal parts decayed away. 



But how, then, account for the smooth, polished 

 hard surface of the inside of the bowl, which it is 

 so tempting to adduce as a proof of the efi'ect of 

 friction from the rolling motion of the stem in its 

 socket ? All ! there are many more clever polishers 

 in Nature's workshops than are dreamed of in oui- 

 philosophy; and how do we know what strange 

 insects, worms, and fungi may have been at work, 

 clipping and filing and rubbing down, bit by bit 

 every little fibre or projecting roughness from the 

 decaying portions of the former trunk. This charm- 

 ing poetic theory of the Lodoicea being rocked in a 

 cradle of the earth, is at first sight a most plausible, 

 ingenious, and interesting interpretation of a natural 

 phenomenon ; therefore it may appear presumptuous 

 to say that it yet seems to want confirmation by more 

 and closer observation of the living andgrowinqtvees. 

 Has any one of these ever been actually examined at 

 its base, and seen to be standing within its bowl, and 

 yet not attached to its substance, and only fastened 

 in the ground by the comparatively slender roots 

 passing through the perforations of the bowl ? 



Various strange myths have from time to time 

 been propagated about these wonderful trees, whose 

 huge fruits were long considered as productions of 

 the sea ! Pit nuts indeed for Leviathan or the great 

 serpent to crack for their dessert ! 



Whatever may be the merits of the conjectures 

 which have here been offered, any visitor to Kew may 

 admire the realities of all the wondrously elegant 

 articles, baskets, boxes, hats, flowers, caskets, dishes, 

 &c. &c., manufactured from the leaves, stalks, and 

 nuts of the Lodoicea Palm, and then survey the hard 

 " Black Cradle," and form their own opinions as to 

 "What is it?" . P. S. B. 



