ABNORMALITIES OF THE COCONUT PALM. 
25 
thickness, but the flat opposed faces become very thin in the 
middle, where the hard dark brown tissue vanishes, and the 
wall consists of the inner pale brown layer only. 
In the larger nut two of the external ridges form the edges 
of the flat side, while the third divides the hemisphere 
unequally at about one quarter of its breadth. The micropyle 
on the larger segment is normal ; that on the smaller segment 
is about the normal size, but is oblique and blocked ; the third, 
which is also oblique and blocked, is very small, and is situated 
just below the ridge on the flat side. In the smaller nut only 
one micropyle is present ; that is normal and symmetrically 
placed. 
Prolification. 
Leafy prolific ation of the inflorescence is said by Masters 
(“Vegetable Teratology,” page 165) to occur in Cocos, but 
no description nor reference is given. Whether the examples 
described below reaUy fall under that head is doubtful. 
The inflorescence of the coconut is contained in a clavate 
spathe which is at first completely closed and bears no resem- 
blance to a leaf. The spathe splits open, usually down the 
outer face, but sometimes down one side, and the flowering 
branches fall out. At first most of them bend towards the 
lower side of the main axis, but they subsequently become 
more rigid and assume a symmetrical position with regard to 
the latter, falling again to the lower side as the fruits develop, 
and their weight drags the branches down. The asymmetrical 
appearance of the inflorescence as usually depicted is due, 
therefore, in the one case to the immaturity of its branches, 
and in the other to the weight of the fruit, not to an 
asymmetrical arrangement of the branches on the main axis 
of the inflorescence. In general, the branches of the in- 
florescence are simple. Within the spathe there may be one 
or two small triangular bracts on the lower part of the main 
axis of the inflorescence, while below each flowering branch is 
a very small ridge-like bract, usually not exceeding one-eighth 
of an inch in height. 
In 1908 an abnormal inflorescence was forwarded to me 
from Minuwangoda from a tree forty years old, which had, 
according to its owner, never borne any other kind. The 
6(6)15 (4) 
