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flowers are arranged in branching spikes 5 or 6 ft. long, enclosed in a tough spathe, and the fruits mature in bunches of from To to 20. The fruits when mature are oblong, and triangular in See also:

CROSS

cross See also:

section, measuring from 12 to 18 in. in length and 6 to 8 in. in See also:

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

diameter. The See also:

FRUIT (through the French from the Lat. fructus; frui, to enjoy)

fruit consists of a thick See also:

EXTERNAL

external husk or rind of a fibrous struceure, within which is the See also:

ORDINARY (med. Lat. ordinarius, Fr. ordinaire)

ordinary coco-nut of See also:

commerce. The nut has a very hard, woody See also:

shell, enclosing the See also:

NUCLEUS (Lat. for the kernal of a nut, nux, the stone of fruit)

nucleus or See also:

KERNEL (O.E. cyrnel, a diminutive of " corn," seed, grain)

kernel, the true See also:

SEED (from the root seen in Lat. serere, to sow)

seed, within which again is a milky liquid called coco-nut See also:

MILK (0. Eng. meoluc; from a common Indo-European root, cf. Lat. mulgere, Gr. ?t dXyetv)

milk. The palm is so widely disseminated throughout tropical countries that it is impossible to distinguish its See also:

ORIGINAL

original See also:

HABITAT (a French word derived from habiter, Lat. habitare, to dwell)

habitat.

It flourishes with equal vigour on the See also:

COAST (from Lat. costa, a rib, side)

coast of the See also:

East Indies, throughout the tropical islands of the Pacific, and in the See also:

West Indies and tropical See also:

AMERICA

America. It, however, attains its greatest luxuriance and vigour on the See also:

sea See also:

SHORE

shore, and it is most at See also:

home in the innumerable small islands of the Pacific seas, of the vegetation of which it is eminently characteristic. Its wide See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution, and its existence in even the smallest See also:

CORAL

coral islets of the Pacific, are due to the See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character of the fruit, which is eminently adapted for distribution by sea. The fibrous husk renders the fruit See also:

LIGHT

light and the leathery skin prevents See also:

WATER

water-logging. The seed will germinate readily on the sea-shore, the seedling growing out through the soft germ-See also:

PORE

pore on the upper ' The spelling " See also:

COCOA

cocoa-nut," which introduces a confusion with cocoa (q.v.) or cacao, is a corruption of the original Portuguese See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form, dating from (and largely due to) See also:

Johnson's See also:

DICTIONARY

Dictionary. The spelling " coker-nut," introduced to avoid the same See also:

AMBIGUITY (Fr. ambiguite, med. Lat. ambiguitas, from Lat. ambiguus, doubtful; ambi, both ways, agere, to drive)

ambiguity, is See also:

COMMON

common in See also:

England.end of the hard nut. The fruits dropping into the sea from trees growing on any shores would be carried by tides and currents to be See also:

CAST (from the verb meaning " to throw "; the word is Scand. in origin, cf. Dan. kaste, and Swed. kasta; " cast " in Middle Eng. took the place of the A.S. weor pan, cf. Ger. werf en)

cast up and to vegetate on distant coasts. The coco-nut palm, being the most useful of its entire tribe to the natives of the regions in which it grows, and furnishing many valuable and important commercial products, is the subject of careful cultivation in many countries. On the See also:

MALABAR

Malabar and Coromandel coasts of See also:

India the trees grow in vast See also:

numbers; and in See also:

CEYLON

Ceylon, which is peculiarly well suited for their cultivation, it is estimated that twenty millions of the trees flourish. The See also:

WEALTH

wealth of a native in Ceylon is estimated by his See also:

PROPERTY

property in coco-nut trees, and See also:

Sir J. See also:

Emerson See also:

TENNENT, SIR JAMES EMERSON, BART

Tennent noted a See also:

law See also:

case in a See also:

DISTRICT

district See also:

court in which the subject in dispute was a claim to the 2520th See also:

PART

part of ten of the See also:

PRECIOUS (O. Fr. precios, mod. precieux, Lat. pretiosus, of high value or price, pretium)

precious palms. The cultivation of coco-nut plantations in Ceylon was thus described by Sir J.

E. Tennent. " The first operation in coco-nut planting is the formation of a nursery, for which purpose the ripe nuts are placed in squares containing about 400 each; these are covered an See also:

INCH (O. Eng. ynce from Lat. uncia, a twelfthpart; cf. " ounce," and see As)

inch deep with See also:

sand and seaweed or soft mud from the See also:

BEACH

beach, and watered daily till they germinate. The nuts put down in See also:

APRIL

April are sufficiently grown to be planted out before the rains of See also:

SEPTEMBER (Lat. septem, seven)

September, and they are then set out in holes 3 ft. deep and 20 to 30 ft. apart. . . . Before putting in the See also:

young plant it is customary to See also:

bed the roots with soft mud and seaweed, and for the first two years they must be watered and protected from the glare of the See also:

sun under shades made of the plaited fronds of the coco-nut palm, or the See also:

FAN (Lat. vannus; Fr. eventail)

fan-like leaves of the See also:

PALMYRA

palmyra." The palm begins to See also:

bear fruit from the fifth to the seventh See also:

YEAR

year of its See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age, each stock carrying from 5 to 30 nuts, the tree maturing on an See also:

AVERAGE

average 6o nuts yearly. The uses to which the various parts of the coco-nut palm are applied in the regions of their growth are almost endless. The nuts See also:

SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply no inconsiderable proportion of the See also:

food of the natives, and the milky juice enclosed within them forms a pleasant and refreshing drink. The juice See also:

DRAWN

drawn from the unexpanded See also:

flower spathes forms " toddy," which may be boiled down to See also:

SUGAR

sugar, or it is allowed to ferment and is distilled, when it yields a spirit which, in common with a like product from other See also:

SOURCES

sources, is known as " arrack." As in other palms, the young bud cut out of the See also:

TOP (cf. Dan. top, Ger. Topf, also meaning pot)

top of the tree forms an esculent See also:

VEGETABLE

vegetable, " palm See also:

CABBAGE

cabbage." The See also:

TRUNK (Fr. tronc, Lat. truncus, cut off, maimed)

trunk yields a See also:

TIMBER

timber (known in See also:

EUROPEAN

European commerce as See also:

PORCUPINE (Fr., pore-epic, " spiny pig ")

porcupine See also:

wood) which is used for See also:

BUILDING

building, See also:

FURNITURE (from " furnish," Fr. fournir)

furniture, firewood, &c.; the leaves are plaited into cajan fans and baskets, and used for thatching the See also:

ROOFS

roofs of houses; the shell of the nut is employed as a water-See also:

VESSEL (O. Fr. vaissel, from a rare Lat. vascellum, dim. of vas, vase, urn)

vessel; and the external husk or rind yields the See also:

COIR (from Malay Kayar, cord, Kayaru, to be twisted)

coir fibre, with which are fabricated See also:

ROPES, JOHN CODMAN (1836–1899)

ropes, cordage, brushes, &c. The coco-nut palm also furnishes very important articles of external commerce, of which the See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal is coco-nut oil. It is obtained by pressure or boiling from the kernels, which are first broken up into small pieces and dried in the sun, when they are known as copperah or See also:

COPRA (a Spanish and Portuguese adaptation of the Malay kopperah, and Hindustani khopra, the coco-nut)

copra. It is estimated that l000 full-sized nuts will yield upwards of 500 lb. of copra, from which 25 gallons of oil should be obtained.

The oil is a See also:

white solid substance at ordinary temperatures, with a See also:

PECULIAR

peculiar, rather disagreeable odour, from the volatile fatty acids it contains, and a mild See also:

TASTE (from Lat. taxare, to touch sharply; tangere, to touch)

taste. Under pressure it separates into a liquid and a solid portion, the latter, coco-stearin, being extensively used in the manufacture of candles. Coco-nut oil is also used in the manufacture of marine See also:

SOAP

soap, which forms a lather with sea-water. Coir is also an important See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article of commerce, being in large demand for the manufacture of coarse brushes, See also:

DOOR (corresponding to the Gr. Bbpa,. Lat. fores or valvae; the English word, with other forms common in allied languages, comes from the same Indo-European stem as the Gr. Obpa and Lat. fares)

door mats and See also:

WOVEN

woven coir-See also:

MATTING

matting for lobbies and passages. A considerable quantity of fresh nuts is imported, chiefly from the West Indies, into See also:

BRITAIN (Gr. Hperavuml vi7vot, Bperravia; Lat. Britannia, rarely Britannia)

Britain and other countries; they are See also:

FAMILIAR (through the Fr. familier, from Lat. familiaris, of or belonging to the familia, family)

familiar as the See also:

REWARD

reward of the popular See also:

ENGLISH

English amusement of " throwing at the coco-nuts "; and the contents are either eaten raw or used as material for cakes, &c., or sweetmeats (" coker-nut ").

End of Article: COCOMA, or CUCAMAS

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