338 CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE NATIONAL HERBARIUM. 



several other species have been found to thrive, Cairo may be still 

 too near the sea to give the most favorable conditions for the coconut. 

 The partial shade of gardens that seem to be well suited to Cocos 

 plumosa and other Brazilian species would not favor the true coco 

 palm. Shelter against cold winds may be an advantage, but the 

 young palms will probably require full exposure to the sunlight. The 

 coconut may behave like the doum palm, that thrives in Upper 

 Egypt but is kept alive only with difficulty in the gardens at Cairo. 

 That the possibility of growing coconuts in Egypt and Palestine 

 should not have been more thoroughly tested may seem very strange, 

 but it should be remembered that the Mediterranean region had no 

 direct communication with coconut-producing tropical countries 

 before the opening of the Suez Canal. Though the Poinciana, the 

 banyan (Ficus lengalensis) , the Assam rubber (Ficus elastica), and 

 many other tropical trees have been established, as ornamentals 

 about Cairo and other towns, many other tropical and subtropical 

 species that are likely to prove well adapted to the conditions remain 

 to be introduced. Now that selected fresh nuts can be brought by 

 swift steamers from Ceylon or other parts of the East Indies, other 

 experimental plantings of coconut palms will doubtless be made. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 



The history of the coconut palm has relation to several different 

 kinds of scientific questions, so that the facts require to be sum- 

 marized from several different standpoints. 



BOTANICAL CONCLUSIONS. 



All the palms that are related to the coconut, comprising about 

 20 genera and 200 species, are natives of America, with the possible 

 exception of a single species, the West African oil palm. All the 

 species of the genus Cocos and of the closely allied genera are natives 

 of South America. The species of Cocos that are most related to the 

 coconut are natives of the interior valleys and plateaus of the Andes, 

 where the coconut also thrives, remote from the sea. 



Comparison of the structure of the fruit and the method of germi- 

 nation of the coconut with those of the related palms indicates a 

 high degree of specialization, but not for purposes of maritime distri- 

 bution. The unusually large, heavy seed and the thick, fibrous husk 

 are to be considered as adaptations for protecting the embryo, 

 assisting in germination, and establishing the young plants in the 

 dry climates of interior localities, the only conditions where this 

 palm could be expected to maintain its existence in a wild state. 



The habits of the coconut palm afford no indication that its orig- 

 inal habitat was on the seacoast, and none of its closer relatives 

 have maritime habits or maritime distribution. The coconut palm 



