314 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



Other partially domesticated palms are found among the species of 

 Attalea, known in some countries as corozo, in others as manaca. 

 The Attalea palms are among the most magnificent members of the 

 group and would undoubtedly be in demand for ornamental plant- 

 ing if they once became known. They bear a crown of immense 

 leaves, often attaining lengths of from 30 to 40 feet, and these do 

 not droop as in other long-leaved palms, but spread very gracefully 

 by the bending of the long midribs. The leaves are extensively 

 used in some localities for thatching the houses of the natives and 

 for making the natives substitutes for umbrellas and raincoats. 



The fruits of the Attalea are born in enormous clusters, weighing 

 200 pounds and upward (pi. 58). In some species there is a pulpy 

 outer husk with much the same texture and taste as in Acrocomia. In 

 other species, such as Attalea coliune of eastern Guatemala and British 

 Honduras, the nut has a thin dry husk and a very thick bony shell. 

 The kernels are very hard, but can be eaten in times of scarcity, or 

 made to yield oil by the application of heat. Considerable quantities 

 of the kernels are gathered in Mexico and the oil extracted for the 

 making of soap and for other domestic purposes. Vast quantities 

 of these nuts might be gathered in other parts of the American 

 tropics if any profitable use were found for them. 



As the Attalea palms have no spines to protect them from the 

 grazing animals or from man, they are at a disadvantage in compari- 

 son with Acrocomia and have not attained so wide a distribution. 

 On the other hand, they are much better able to compete with other 

 forest growth, so that they are often found in vast numbers in regions 

 that have been abandoned by the Indians in the last century or two, 

 and now distinguish such reforested areas from the forests of older 

 growth where the long-lived hard-wood trees have taken full posses- 

 sion to the exclusion of the Attalea palms. a 



ORIGIN OF THE NAMES COCO AND COCOS. 



The lack of native American names for the coconut has been 

 accepted as proof that the palm could not have existed in America 

 before the arrival of the Spaniards. This argument is considerably 

 weakened by the probability already noted that the name "coco' 7 

 itself is of American origin. It is certain, at least, that the Spaniards 

 did not need to bring the word "coco" to America, since it was a 

 favorite plant name in several Central American languages. It is 

 applied in particular to plants that have bulbs or bulbous roots. For 

 example, the bulbous rootstocks of Xanthosoma, a taro-like plant 



a Vegetation Affected by Agriculture in Central America, U. S. Department of 

 Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Bull. No. 145. 



