326 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



would be a sufficient permanent protection against drying out. It is 

 only when we think of the coconut as growing in an alkaline interior 

 region, subject to prolonged drought, that we can appreciate the large 

 hollow seed and the very thick husk as characters that give the palm 

 special adaptation to the natural conditions of its environment. 



The very large size of the coconut, which is the largest of all seeds 

 except one, a undoubtedly tends to keep it from becoming buried in the 

 ground, and would thus interfere seriously with germination if it 

 were not for the fact that the young plant sends its first roots into 

 the fibrous material of the husk, which serves as a sponge for the 

 storage of water. By virtue of its husk the coconut is able to pro- 

 ceed with germination without waiting to be buried in the ground. 



Palm seeds are notoriously short-lived, with very little of the usual 

 power of seeds to remain dry and dormant for long periods of time. 

 If palm seeds are very carefully packed so as to keep just the right 

 amount of moisture, enough to prevent drying out but not enough to 

 permit germination, they can often be kept for several months; 

 otherwise a single drying may be fatal. The seeds of many species 

 have a natural packing in the form of a fleshy external pulp like the 

 date, able to hold moisture by reason of the sugar it contains. 



But with most palm seeds early germination is a necessity and if, 

 as often happens, the fruit ripens in the dry season, 6 germination 

 becomes a very critical problem for which many specialized solu- 

 tions have been worked out in the various natural groups of palms. 

 And even if the germination can be deferred until the rainy season 

 the next period of drought may find the young plants still very small, 

 for the palms labor under the further disqualification of very slow 

 growth, especially in their earlier stages. 



The process of germination is extremely slow in the palms. The 

 embryo is very small in comparison to the hardened food materials 

 which have to be digested and absorbed into the tissues of the seed- 

 ling. Long before any external sign of germination appears there is 

 a growth of the cotyledon, or absorbing organ of the embryo, at the 

 expense of the hardened food materials stored in the seed. In the 



°The so-called double coconut, or coco-de-mer Lodoicea maldivica (L.), a huge fan 

 palm native in the Seychelles Islands of the Indian Ocean, has seeds several times 

 as large as coconuts. A single fruit of Lodoicea, containing three or four seeds, some- 

 times weighs from 40 to 50 pounds. 



& In India the hot, dry months are counted upon to bring the nuts to maturity. 



"In six months from blossoming, the kernels of the nuts begin to solidify; in a 

 year, the fruit is fully ripe — even sooner if the season is very hot and dry. The pro- 

 duce of the tree in full health and properly tended is much dependent on soil and 

 climate. The average may be put down at 120 nuts in the twelve months; in a low 

 and sandy soil, it will amount to 200; in gravel and laterite, not 60. The most pro- 

 ductive months in India are from January to June, that is for ripe nuts, the heat 

 bringing them quickly to maturity." — Spons' Encyclopedia. 



