268 Winton— Anatomy of the Fruit of Cocos micifera. 



The endosperm or meat of the cocoanut (fig. 3, Alb.) is a 

 white, fleshy layer, l-2 cm thick, in which, near the base, is 

 embedded the small embryo. While immature, the nut is 

 filled with a milky liquid and has no solid endosperm, but as 

 the ripening proceeds the endosperm is gradually formed and 

 at the same time the milky liquid diminishes in quantity or 

 entirely disappears. 



Cocoanuts yield food for man and cattle, oil, fiber, and other 

 useful products. The epicarp and mesocarp are cut away from 

 nuts designed for export, although invariably a small amount 

 of the mesocarp with its fibers remains attached to the shell. 

 In removing the meat, the outer testa, as has been stated, also 

 adheres to the hard shell, so that cocoanut shells consist not 

 merely of endocarp, but also of a certain amount of mesocarp 

 and testa. 



II. Histology. 



The microscopic structure of the cocoanut seed is described 

 by Hanausek,* Harz,f Moeller,j Koenig§ and other authori- 

 ties on foods and applied microscopy. 



Cocoanut fiber (coir), which has long been extensively 

 employed in making mats and cordage, and also cocoanut 

 shell, which has been used for making knobs and other turned 

 articles, were studied by WiesnerJ nearly thirty years ago, but 

 his work was designed chiefly to distinguish the fiber from 

 other commercial fibers and the shell from the similar shell of 

 Attalea funifera. 



Yon Hoehnel^f describes briefly the histology of coir, but, 

 like Wiesner, does not appear to have understood the true 

 nature of the stegmata. 



Weiss,** Engler and Prantl,tf and some other authors refer 

 briefly to the microscopic structure of parts of the cocoanut^ 

 but their descriptions are of little value in diagnosis. 



1. Epicarp. 

 The epicarp or epidermal layer is about -015 mm thick and 

 is made up of tabular cells with dark brown contents. In 

 surface view the cells are usually square, rectangular or tri- 



* Die Nahrungs- unci Genussmittel aus dem Pflanzenreiche, Kassel, 1884, p. 155. 



f Landwirthschaftliche Samenkunde, Berlin, 1885, p. 1120. 



\ Mikroscopie der Nahrungs- und Genussmittel aus dem Pflanzenreiche, Ber- 

 lin, 1886, p. 241. 



§ Die Untersuchung landwirtschaftlich u. gewerblich wichtiger Stoffe, Berlin, 

 1898, p. 291. 



|| Die Rohstoffe des Pflanzeu-Reiches, Leipzig, 1873, pp. 436 and 789. (A new 

 edition is being published in parts, but the chapters on the cocoanut have not yet 

 appeared.) 



*[[ Die Microscopie der technisch verwendeten Faserstoffe, Leipzig, 1887, p. 52. 



**. Anatomie der Pflanzen, Wien, 1878, 1 Band. 



ff Die naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien, II Theil, 3 Abteilung, p. 22. 



