THE COCOANUT PALM. 



229 



Names. Description. 

 9. The simbright . , . . The nut has a beautiful fading blush, the 

 fruit being small in size, but numerous. 



10. The white The nut and fronds have a grey bloom. 



11. The milky .. .. The pulp is creamy and thick. 



12. Oblong oval .. .. The fruit is long, and the ridges well de- 



veloped. 



13. The Tanjore .. .. The nut is long and pointed, with a large 



base. 



14. The Oora The nut is pointed at each end, anil oblong. 



15. The globular .. .. The bunches contain many large round 



fruit. 



16. Small round ,. .. Fruit more numerous, but also very round. 



17. Minute cocoanut , . A diminutive fruit, but made up by number, 



18. The weighty cocoanut Fruit few, but large and heavy, with thick 



kernel, 



19. The heavy ditto . . The eyes of the fruit are small, but the copra 



or dried kernel is very full of oil. 



20. Male cocoanut . . , . There is a peculiarity in the fronds, and the • 



leaflets do not separate from each other, 



21. Foreign cocoanut .A Evidently from the Maldives ; both the nut 



22. The island cocoanut . , / and fruit-stems reddish. 



23. The Portuguese .. The same as above. 



24. Shanar or Ceylon . , Nut large and red, fronds slightly bluish. 



25. The Dutch . . . . Fruit, &c., a red pale colour. 



26. The Goa Two fruits only on each bunch, and these 



dark green. 



27. Jaffna cocoanut .. Hure again the fruit is large, but few in 



number. 



28. Palamcotta .. .. The fronds of this tree are pale yellow. 



29. The ship cocoanut . . Stem or trunk of the tree and leaves small, 



and all tinted with black spots as if 

 blighted. 



30. The Maldive .. The covering of the fruit is of a whitish or 



washed-out blue. 



The red and tlie black kinds are generally supposed to be the most 

 fruitful, altliough with careful cultivation of any of the above described 

 none need be disapx^ointed in the returns, and this will be in propor- 

 tion to the labour bestowed. 



Trees growing in the most fertile soils will live for a century, 

 others less favoured from sixty to eighty years only ; the former will 

 yield their fruit commencing at the tenth year, and with rare intervals 

 continue until their sixtieth year, and then gradually decrease in 

 fruitfulness till they decay.* 



Although its real locality is bordered by the tropics, and the tree 

 is an inhabitant of the coast regions, it grows in India up to Luck- 

 now, 26° 50' N., and is cultivated far in the interior of the peninsula, 

 yet in the first case it does not fruit, and in the second it becomes 

 stunted and languishes. Its tall trunk often attains a height of 

 90 feet, with a diameter of 3 feet at the base, and 1 foot at the 

 summit. In favourable localities each peduncle will bear from five 

 to fifteen nuts, and a tree in full vigour may have eight, ten, or a 

 dozen of these peduncles flourishing in the course of five or six 

 weeks, so that a tree can yield 80 to 100 nuts in the year. These 

 ripen successively, and there may thus be seen at the same time 

 flowers and fruits. 



* ' Agricultural Gazette of India,' vol. iii. 



