338 THE BOOK OF USEFUL PLANTS 



The wide distribution of the coco palm is due to 

 the fact that the nuts float, and are not injured 

 by sea water, as they drift to other shores. They 

 grow in the tropics of all continents, and are the 

 chief food of the inhabitants of many tropical 

 islands. 



Cocos means monkey, in the Portuguese language. 

 So it must have been when he was looking at the 

 funny little monkey face on the end of a nut, the 

 end with the three flat penny spots on it, that the 

 botanist adopted the name that was applied in fun 

 to the familiar nut by a Portuguese sailor. 



The meaning of the three spots is not clear at 

 first. One is always largest; this is the one that 

 breaks to let the little plant escape on germination. 

 The nut was intended to be in three compart- 

 ments, with a plantlet, or embryo, in each. But 

 long ago the partitions between the chambers got 

 into the way of breaking down, and a single seed 

 was developed, in the place of three. The two 

 prints are all that are left to show that the plant 

 has decided to have fewer and therefore stronger 

 seeds. 



We know the coco-nuts as they come to our 

 markets, freed of their bulky husks, and carried 

 as ballast in the holds of vessels from Jamaica and 

 Trinidad. There is a tremendous demand for 



