Page:The coco palm by Dahlgren, B. E. (Bror Eric).djvu/12

4 twenty coconuts. The flowering continues the year around and a tree in prime condition yields upwards of 100 fruits annually, distributed over four or five harvests. The record in the Philippines is 470 nuts from a tree.

The leaves of the coco palm are attached directly to the main stem. They are commonly twenty feet or more in length. They are shed one by one as the fruit clusters mature and drop, or are removed, so that the clusters of ripe fruit are always associated with the lowermost leaves. Each leaf-base with its sheath completely encircles the central trunk, the characteristic ridges or roughness of which are due to the old leaf-scars. The dry bast-like leaf sheathes may be seen surrounding the bearing portion of the trunk. Split and partially torn away from their respective leaf bases, they give it an untidy appearance. Their presence is puzzling to account for, till one observes them in position on the topmost leaves. There they serve to tie together the bundle of young leaves surrounding the growing tip, a matter of great importance to the tree in regions subject to severe winds.

The near-ripe fruit of almost full size, but still green, contains a fluid, slightly milky in appearance and sub-acid, the "coconut milk," or "water," which furnishes a pleasant drink. To obtain it, one must cut through the outer fibrous tissue, then the inner dense and hard layer which, like an egg shell, surrounds the embryo plant with its stored food-material. At an early stage this forms only a thin gelatinous layer within the shell, the remainder being the fluid "milk." As the coconut ripens the layer of "endosperm," the botanical term for this food material, becomes thicker and of firm consistence and the water more like milk.

In some places a drink is obtained from the coco