THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 
Vol. 111. July 15, 1902. No. i 
BOTANICAL NOTES FROM THE PHILIPPINES. 
By BOYDEN NiMS. 
Judging from illustrations of the plant one would naturally sup- 
pose that the Cocoanut palm does not bear until it get to be fifty 
or sixty feet high and then only six to twelve nuts at a time, but 
I have seen trees bearing nuts that could be reached by a man 
standing on the ground and I find that about thirty is the average 
number of mature nuts on a tree at one time, besides innumerable 
smaller ones. In addition to the nuts a valuable product of this 
tree is the sap from which an alcoholic beverage is distilled. The 
sap is collected by making an incision near the bud and hanging 
a joint of bamboo beneath to receive the exudation. Something 
like an acre in extent of the grove is tapped at a time, the different 
trees being connected just beneath the bottom leaves by bamboo 
poles so as to facilitate the emptying of all the bamboo pails by 
climbing only one tree. Two men work together collecting the 
sap. One climbs the tree and lowers the pails with a small rope 
and the other empties them into a larger receptacle, usually an 
earthenware jar. The shells, the outer husk and the the dead 
leaves of cocoanut are used for fuel, the shell being almost equal 
to coal for that purpose. 
Besides the cocoanut there are a dozen or more palms common 
here, among them Areca catechu, 2. tree about eight inches in dia- 
meter and forty to fifty feet high that bears an orange colored 
fruit about the size and shape of a hen's egg containing a single 
seed, which is cut into slices and chewed by nearly all Filipinos 
the same as is tobacco by the Americans. 
Growing among the cocoanut trees are various other trees and 
smaller plants including chicos, mangoes, bread fruit, guaves, lan- 
goles, cacao, bananas, oranges, limes, grape fruit and other fruits 
with which I am not familiar. 
