
308 NOTES ON TROPICAL FRUITS. 
should now expand the leaf would be palmate ; but it goeson 
lengthening the axis and becomes pinnate, showing a higher — 
order of development. -Five or six leaves are unfolded q 
every year, and as many wither and fall off. When you — 
the leaves are quite tender, but when fully expanded, become — 
very stiff and hard. ; 
The axillary spathe opens always on the under side anl — 
soon falls off, leaving a spicate spadix bearing the female — 
flowers near the base; as in most palms the blossom is beai- — 
tiful from the great number of the flowers, rather than from 
any individual grace. In favorable places each stem will | 
bear from five to fifteen nuts, and a mature tree may have q 
eight or ten, or even twelve of these stems, one blossoming — 
every four or five weeks; so that a tree will produce from 
eighty to a hundred nuts annually. They ripen in succes : 
sion, so that blossoms and fruit are seen at once. 
As the fruit comes to us its glory is gone. It is in ib | 
best condition just before ripeness, or when the shell is soft 1 
enough to be cut with a knife; then the interior is 
with a rich clear milk, always cool when just gathered, 
the shell is coated with a gelatinous cream almost tramp 
rent, and so soft as to be eaten with a spoon. When fully 
ripe, the inner crust has hardened, and absorbed the poe 
part of the milk, leaving an insipid water. The ose 
quite nutritious, and many medicinal effects have bee 
tributed to it. I have drank nothing else for several days: 
without perceiving any unfavorable result. It is porai” | 
with more reason regarded as a cure for sea-sickness. Care- 
: 3 ymy 
fully picked with a portion of the stem attached, they? — 
be carried for three weeks at sea uninjured, perhaps lap 
so that we might be supplied with fresh nuts from the 
Indies. 

