COOK THE COCONUT PALM IN AMEEICA. 335 



As soon as the coast belt is passed the coconut palms are able to 

 thrive, not only at Guayaquil, but much farther to the southward. 

 The following statement by Spruce shows the existence of coconut 

 palms in an oasis of the desert in the region of Payta, in northern Peru: 



When the traveler across the despoblado comes suddenly on one of the valleys, he 

 passes at once from a desert to a garden, whose charms are enhanced by their unex- 

 pectedness. Standing on the cliff that overlooks the Chira, about Amotape, he sees at 

 his feet a broad valley filled with perpetual verdure, the great mass of which is com- 

 posed of the pale green foliage of the Algarroba; but the course of the river that winds 

 through it is marked (even where the river itself is not seen) by lines or groups of tall 

 Coco palms, here and there diversified by the more rigid Date palm, both growing and 

 fruiting in the greatest luxuriance, their ample fronds never mutilated by caterpillars, 

 as they are wont to be in other regions. a 



POSSIBILITIES OF THE COCONUT PALM IN THE UNITED STATES. 



It will be apparent from the preceding chapters that we are not to 

 expect the coconut palm to attain its utmost limits of extratropical 

 distribution along the seacoast, but in interior localities that afford 

 larger amounts of heat and sunlight. Applying these considerations 

 to the United States, we ought not to accept as final the present limi- 

 tation of the coconut palm to extreme southern Florida, but should 

 test the possibility of establishing it in the frost-free interior valleys 

 of southern California and Arizona. The low summer temperatures 

 of the coast belt of California would doubtless exclude the coconut 

 palm, though some of the Brazilian species of Cocos appear to thrive 

 in the region of Santa Barbara and also farther north in Florida than 

 the existing varieties of the true coconut. 



The fact that the coconut is able to thrive and mature its fruit on 

 tropical seacoasts shows that it does not demand the high tempera- 

 tures that the date palm requires to ripen its fruit. It seems prob- 

 able, therefore, that the coconut may prefer districts nearer to the 

 coast in California than the very hot interior valleys where the date 

 succeeds. The region about Riverside, or some of the valleys that 

 are not hot enough for dates, may possibly afford conditions in which 

 coconut palms can thrive. 



The possibility of securing useful hybrids between the coconut and 

 other related palms already known to be hardy in California is also 

 worthy of consideration. Some of the Brazilian species of Cocos 

 have been reported as thriving in California, as well as the Chilean 

 relative of the coconut, Jubaea chilensis, which grows in South America 

 well outside the Tropics. 



It is said to extend to 36 degrees south latitude in the wild state, 

 but lives in cultivation still farther south. It has proved hardy in 



a Op. cit., p. 335. 



