Palmae. 55 
nearly a hundred feet, and the gracefully leaning trunk crowned 
by the numerous feathery leaves gives a splendid effect. It favors 
the sand\' shores and does not only endure salt and salt water 
but practically requires it, the salt taking the place of fertilizer. 
While it has been employed by the natives of nearly all countries to 
which it is indigenous, the Hawaiians did not employ it extensively. 
In Hawaii the Coconut does not grow to such luxuriance as in 
the Islands of the South Pacific where the atmosphere is much more 
humid and rains are more frequent. The Coconut Pahn has many 
enemies in Hawaii and one of the most detrimental is the coconut 
leaf roller, to which is due the dilapidated appearance of the leaves, 
Numerous varieties of coconuts are in cultivation and one with 
rather large nuts, known in Honolulu as the Samoan Coconut, 
produces a very short trunk with the nuts almost lying on the 
ground. 
While in other tropical countries the copra industry is carried 
on at a profit, in Hawaii the number of trees is not sufficient to war- 
rant the collecting of the nuts for copra, and it may seem strange 
to state that the writer has bought coconuts in Europe cheaper than 
here in Hawaii. 
Copra is nothing but the dried kernel of the coconut, which is 
manufactured into soap, butter and oil. about two quarts of oil 
being procured from fourteen or fifteen coconuts. The home of 
the coconut is not known. Some contend that it originated on the 
shores of the Indian Ocean and others that it is a native of America, 
the former theory seems to be much better justified. 
Cocos plumosa Hook. 
The Feathery Cocopalm. 
Plate XXIV. 
Cocos plumosa is an exceedingly handsome species, with a straight 
trunk of medium height. The leaves are pinnate, feathery, ascending, 
and arch gracefully ; the segments are long and narrow and of a 
dark green. The flowers are borne in a drooping spadix. The fruits 
are ovate, pointed, and about an inch long. Cocos plumosa which 
lends itself well to street planting is quite a hardy palm ; it is a native 
of South America, as are most of its congeners which have, how- 
ever, been taken out of the genus Cocos by Dr. O. Beccari and placed 
into new genera, the names of which served as subgeneric ones under 
Cocos. What was known as Cocos Romanzoffiana Cham., is now 
