Some Abnormalities of the Coconut Palm, 
BY 
T. FETCH, B.A., B.Sc. 
X N the following notes are described some abnormalities of 
the coconut palm which have come under the writer’s 
notice during the last few years. In general, the phenomena 
described have been recorded before, but it is possible that the 
present account may contain additional details which may be 
of some service. 
Yellow Coconuts. 
In the ‘‘ Tropical Agriculturist,” Vol. IX., page 102, there 
appears the following paragraph, entitled A Curious Coconut 
Tree ” 
A gentleman who was down at Matara the other day tells us 
of a curious coconut tree he observed on the roadside a few miles 
beyond Calle, which bore ordinary coconuts on one side and king 
coconuts on the other. Though he has been travelling about the 
Island for a good many years he does not remember either seeing 
or hearing of a similar case before. Neither do we, and we should 
be glad to hear more about the history of this curious tree. 
The editor’s evident scepticism was dispelled by the receipt 
of a bunch of coconuts from the same (?) correspondent, 
together with the following letter Tropical Agriculturist,” 
Vol. X., page 650) : — 
Herewith a bunch of coconuts with three fruits, two of which 
you will find are like the king coconuts, while the other is quite 
green, all in the same cluster, and from a tree about forty years 
old, which hitherto never had anything but green-coloured nuts, 
and has about four clusters at present all green -coloured. One 
nut you will note is small ; this is, I believe, attributable to rats 
making an attempt when the fruit was tender to eat it. There 
were two other green-coloured nuts on the same cluster, which 
unfortunately were destroyed by rats in their early stage. 
It will be noted that this specimen bunch differs from those 
first described, in having green and yellow coconuts on the 
same inflorescence ; whereas the tree referred to in the former 
paragraph was said to have ordinary (i.e., green) coconuts on 
Annals of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Peradeniya, Vol. VI., Part I., Aug,, 1915. 
