2 
3. Dxtetan (Durio zibethinus) (from Malaya).— The 6 fruits mentioned last year* 
matured in April and were not fully developed. My impression is that this tree like the 
mangosteen is more at home on the hills or on the alluvial flits of the low country thin oa the 
rocky grounds such as those of the Botanic Station. It is exacting in its requirements as 
regards soil. The fruits however produced fully ripe seeds and were found excellent by 
many persons although some declined to eat them. Several trees flowered again this year in 
October but the flowers did not set. 
4. As usual economic palms other than Palm oil and Palmyrah palm dealt with in pre¬ 
ceding reports have received the attention of this department during the year. Mention is 
made of two palms: l.date palms from Egypt, 2. Oohune nut palm of which unfortunately 
only a few seeds have hitherto been received from British Honduras. 
Regarding date palms it has been found impossible to introduce plants (suckers) owing to 
the present shipping difficulties. Seeds received from Egypt have germinated well; they be¬ 
long to the following types :— 
Data Palm “Zaglool” 
„ “Ambat” 
,, “Hayani” 
and have been selected by the Director, Horticultural Section, Ministry of Agriculture, Egypt. 
Data palms are said not to do well in wet countries like Seychelles but there are several islands 
of the archipelago which are low lying and uncommonly dry during a large part of the year. 
It may be worth while experimenting with date palm in those districts. 
The Cohune nut palm (Attalea cohune) from Honduras produces large nuts containing 
several kernels (3 to 5), Although these nuts are hard to crack they furnish an oil quite com¬ 
parable to palm, kernel and coconut oils, for which the demand is so great at present in 
Europe. 
5. Palm oil (Eleis Guinensis) (from Nigeria). —Soft-shelled varieties of this palm 
received from the Cameroons in 1914 through the instrumentality of His Excellency the Go- 
nernor of Nigeria fruited for the first time this year at the Botanic Station and at the 
'“Palms” at Mont Eleuri (Victoria). The plants had been set out early in 1914 and were 3 
years old. On other Crown Lands and at Government House, rows of the same varieties and 
also widely seperated rows of other types introduced from Lagos and Mauritius were more 
recently set out at various elevations. The first soft shelled trees which fruited at the Botanic 
Station were placed in a row of 8 in laterite soil of very poor composition. 
No. 1 produced whorls of male and female flowers and 6 bunches of fruit during the year 
out of which 5 reached maturity but were in all cases very partially developed. In 2 cases the 
pericarp was dry and not fleshy. The shell was very thick (5 mm) in all cases; the percentage 
of the different parts of the developed fruits being on an average : 
Weight of one fruit 
„ „ depericarped nut after drying 
99 99 9 } 99 99 99 
,, „ shell ... ... ... 
„ „ kernel ... 
105 grs o/o. 
8-3 grs. 
8-3 grs 100 o/o. 
6*0 grs 72 o/o. 
1*7 grs 20 o/o. 
No. 2 produced male flowers only ; No. 3 produced 3 bunches of female flowers one of 
which came to maturity and gave the following results 
grams o/o grams o/o 
Weight of one fruit ... 2-50 ... j weight of shell ... 0-96 56 
„ „ depericarped nut P70 100 | „ „ kernel ... 0-70 41*3 
the shell was thin measuring only 2 m/m, as compared with 5 m/m in No. 1. 
Nos. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 have borne male flowers only as yet. 
At the “Palms” there are 14 trees in a row set out in damp alluvial soil. All the odd, 
numbered palms, 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 are local strains, i.e., plants obtained from seeds of the 
original palm introduced in 1901 from Mauritius, and all the even numbered palms, 2, 4, 6, 8, 
10, 12 are strains from the so-called soft shelled variety introduced from Nigeria. The latter 
plants are not yet 3 years old and the former are 1 year older. 
No. 1. Local strains 
First 2 whorls male flowers ; next 2 whorls female flowers ; next 2 whorls male 
flowers ; no developed bunch as yet. 
No. 2. Soft shelled strain :— 
First whorl female flowers ; second whorl male ; third whorl mile ; fourth whorl 
male ; fifth whorl 3 female flowers; the first female flower from whorl 3 developed into 
a partially matured bunch of dried fruits without pericarp. 
Weight of one fruit ... 14.5 grams...lOOo/o j weight of one shell ... 10-3 gram3...7io/o 
weight of one kernel ... 3’7 grams,..25o/o. 
The large size of the nuts of this variety is notewhorthy but the shell is very thick 
measuring 7 m/m. 
