Cocos Nucifera

The cocoanut palm. This palm is cultivated

throughout the tropics so extensively that its native country is

not known. One reason of its extensive dissemination is that it

grows so close to the sea that the ripe fruits are washed away by

the waves and afterwards cast upon far-distant shores, where they

soon vegetate. It is in this way that the coral islands of the

Indian Ocean have become covered with these palms. Every part of

this tree is put to some useful purpose. The outside rind or husk

of the fruit yields the fiber from which the well-known cocoa

matting is manufactured. Cordage, clothes, brushes, brooms, and

hats are made from this fiber, and, when curled and dyed, it is

used for stuffing mattresses and cushions. An oil is produced by

pressing the white kernel of the nut which is used for cooking

when fresh, and by pressure affords stearin, which is made into

candles, the liquid being used for lamps. The kernel is of great

importance as an article of food, and the milk affords an

agreeable beverage. While young it yields a delicious substance

resembling blanc-mange. The leaves are used for thatching, for

making mats, baskets, hats, etc.; combs are made from the hard

footstalk; the heart of the tree is used as we use cabbages. The

brown fibrous net work from the base of the leaves is used as

sieves, and also made into garments. The wood is used for building

and for furniture. The flowers are used medicinally as an

astringent and the roots as a febrifuge.