326 



ESSENTIALS OF BOTANY 



one is the cocoanut (Fig. 226), a drupe containing an enor- 

 mous 'seed with oily endosperm, eaten in its natural con- 

 dition, and also used in the preparation of many well-known 

 dishes and in confectionery. 



Chocolate, so well known as a food, a flavoring, and 

 as a beverage, is made from the ground or crushed seeds 

 of the cacao tree (Fig. 227), cultivated 

 in many tropical countries, originally 

 a native of Mexico. Cocoa is merely 

 chocolate deprived of a large part of 

 its oily material. 



Coffee, which has little value as a 

 food, but is most widely used as a stim- 

 ulating beverage, is made from the seeds 

 of a small tree, a native of the moun- 

 tains of eastern Africa, much cultivated 

 in tropical countries. The seeds are 

 borne in red berries abundantly clus- 

 tered in the axils of the leaves(Fig. 228). 

 IMany edible nuts of temperate cli- 

 mates are furnished by three families 

 of trees. The Walnut family furnishes 

 the so-called English walnuts, black 

 walnuts, butternuts, pecans, and hick- 

 ory nuts; the Birch family furnishes 

 hazelnuts and filberts; and the Beech 

 family furnishes beechnuts and chestnuts. 



From the Rose family come almonds, which are drupes, 

 like a peach, but with the ripened ovary-wall fibrous rather 

 than fleshy. 



From a tropical family related to the mangroves and the 

 myrtles are obtained the well-known Brazil nuts. 



Fig. 226. A Cluster of 

 Cocoanuts. (Much 

 reduced.) 



