PHYSIOLOGY OF THE COCO-NUT 3 



the roots have previously been killed, or undermined 

 by waves, no coco-nut is unrooted. 



When parts of old roots die, they are replaced from 

 the same roots. From the axial strand of the end of 

 the living part one or two stout roots start to grow. Not 

 at first being able to break the hypodermal shell, these 

 are forced to grow in the same direction as the parent 

 root, whose place in the anchorage of the plant they 

 therefore take. 



The direction of the main roots is more or less hori- 

 zontal, none of them going to any great depth. Some, 

 but not many, roots descend more than a metre below 

 the surface ; most of them are usually found at a depth 

 of between 15 and 45 centimetres. This of course 

 depends a great deal upon conditions. 



The number of roots found in successive horizontal 

 layers 5 cm. (about 2 inches) thick, beginning at the 

 surface, is shown in the following table. The observa- 

 tion is made by digging a circular trench part of the 

 way round the tree, 1 metre from the outside of its 

 base, and counting the roots cut. 



[Table 



