THE PALM HOUSE 
133 
Cocoa-nut 
Palms. 
a tree near the sea shores of the tropics, it has always proved a 
somewhat difficult palm to cultivate. A still more notable triumph 
in horticultural skill is a plant of the double cocoa-nut 
(Lodoicea Seychellarum). Although not yet large, it is 
the finest specimen ever raised in Britain. This remark- 
able palm grows only in the Seychelles, a group of islands in the Indian 
Ocean. Its nuts were found floating on the sea by mariners long 
before the discovery of the islands, and for many years they were 
believed to be the fruit of a submarine plant. A single nut some- 
times weighs over thirty pounds, and from five to ten of them are 
produced in a bunch. The species requires such careful cultivation 
during germination and the early stages of growth that very few 
plants in Great Britain have ever produced a single leaf. The nut 
from which this plant was raised is still attached to its base. Another 
cultural success is a specimen of the Doum, or gingerbread palm 
of Upper Egypt. 
It would occupy too much space to allude to one-tenth of the 
representatives of the wonderful group of trees which are growing 
here. Bare mention can only be made of a few : — The 
ivory palm, a tree whose nuts are used as a substitute 
for animal ivory ; species of Cocos and Howea, reaching 
nearly to the roof ; the slender, exceedingly graceful Chamsedoreas ; 
the fan-leaved Thrinaxes and Livistonas ; the rare Bismarckia nobilis 
from Madagascar ; the remarkable Attalea Cohune, which has not 
yet commenced to form a stem, but whose leaves reach from the 
ground to the roof forty feet above ; the sugar and wax palms ; and 
the noble-leaved Pritchardias from Fiji. Whilst the trunks can best 
be seen from the floor, the gallery should be visited to get a fair idea 
of the magnificent foliage of these tropical palms. 
Entering the house from the south end, the visitor’s notice is first 
attracted by the fine cycads. These plants are found exclusively 
in tropical and subtropical countries, and form a curious 
natural order (Cycadaceae), having some affinity to the pine 
and fir family. They are, however, more palm-like in general appear- 
ance, many of them having a thick erect stem crowned with several 
tiers of wide-spreading, rigid, pinnate leaves. These stems grow 
very slowly in height. Among them a South African genus (Encephal- 
artos) stands out conspicuously. There is a plant of E. Caffer, which 
was introduced by Masson from South Africa in 1775, and even now 
Remarkable 
Palms. 
Cycads. 
