THE BOTANY OF CHRISTMAS ISLAND. 189 



The wood is poor, light colored fawn, the centre darker, 

 rays very fine numerous with many fine transverse 

 bars; pores in short lines, joined together and 

 separated by transverse partitions. Weight 41 lbs per 

 cubic foot. 



The red crabs, Gecarcinus, seem very fond of the 

 fruit of this tree of which they eat the green husk. 

 As they drag them from some distance to their 

 burrows for this purpose, it is not uncommon to see a 

 dozen or so young plants growing in a circle round 

 the mouth of the burrow. The seed when boiled is 

 eatable, and very good tasting like a chestnut. It is 

 undoubtedly a sea dispersed plant the strong husk pro- 

 tecting the seed from injury, while floating in the 

 sea. 



Specimens were first obtained by Lister and from 

 these Professor Oliver (Icones Plantarum t. 1837) 

 gave a figure and description of the seed, to correct the 

 misconception of its structure by Gaertner, but as a 

 matter of fact Lister's fruit was very young and 

 Gaertner's that of a fully ripe fruit. The tree has 

 long been cultivated in the Botanic Gardens at 

 Singapore, where it regularly flowers and fruits. The 

 fruits, only 2 or three ripening on one raceme, are 

 flattened pearshaped polished green or yellowish green ; 

 when quite ripe 5 inches long, 4 wide and about an 

 inch through. The remains of the style, represented by a 

 very short elevation is more than half way along the 

 upper edge from the stalk. There are often a few 

 small points also in the sides. The stalk is short under ^ 

 inch and stout. The pod which is indehiscent is one 

 seeded. The exocarp is composed of the thin green 

 epicarp, followed by a fibrous almost woody portion ^ 

 to § inch thick. Beneath this is a pithy white mass, at 

 first very thick but disappearing as the seed developes, 

 so that when the seed is ripe there is little or none 

 left. The ripe seed is 3 inches long thick orbicular 

 heart shaped, yellow wrinkled, with no albumen. 



R. A. Soc, No. 45, 1905 



