Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1906-02-27
ONCE A PRIZE FOR KINGS.
A Specimen of the Mysterious Coco de
Mer Palm on Exhibition.

Mer Palm on ESnipitlon.
An unusually interesting palm is
now on exhibition in the public con-
servatories of the New York Botanical
garden. 1t is the plant which bears
the fruit once called coco de mer,
whose origin was long shrouded in
mystery and the subject Of curious
speculations.
The home Of the palm Is three Of
the many rocky tropical isles that
make up the Seychelles or Mahi group.
Until these islands were discovered in
1743 the great double nuts which dis
| tinguished the palm from all others
were found occasionally in the waters
Of the Indian ocean, or they fioated
ashore on the beaches of the Maidivian
islands. From the character Of the
nuts the name double cocoanut was de-
to touch gave them the name of COCO
de Maldives, while the long cherished
belief that the plant grew in the sea
led to the name coco de mer.
inous substance remained of the kernel
of the nut when so found, but this, and
even the shell itself, was credited with
medical value commensurate with the
mystery that surrounded 1t. On the
Maldivian islands such nuts as fioated
ashore became the property Of the king
and the penalty Of death was affixed
to the crime Of trying to retain one.
He sold them at high prices or pre-
sented them to favorites.
The Chinese shared the islanders
belief in the unfailing efficacy Of the
coco de mer to prevent epilepsy, collie,
apoplexy and paralysis, while 1t was
as firmly believed that water, tobac-
co, betel or like. things that an enemy
might seek to poison could not be made
deadly after being stored for time in
the shell Of the nut. They readily
brought from sixty to one hundred and
twenty crowns each and kings have
been credited with having given ship
and its cargo for one Of them.
Meantime the Seychelle islanders
had been putting the plant to the man
fold uses to which the ordinary CO.
coanut lends itself. The leaves fur
nish siding, partitions and thatch for
the native houses. The immature
fruit is eaten and is said to be palata-
BILE and nutritious. The heart Of the
young plant is eaten like the heart c
the American cabbage palm.
The trunk Of the tree serves in the
manufacture of drinking troughs and
the nut shells are converted into wa
ter buckets. dishes, plates and drinking
cups. The down Of the young leaves
makes filling for mattresses and pill
lows, and the leaves are utilized In the
manufacture of hats. baskets and
brooms.
The palm grows only on the isles of
Praslin and Curiense and Round Is
land. 1t attains a height Of eighty or
ninety feet, with trunks IL or 15 inches
in diameter, heavily crowned with
handsome palmate leaves averaging
twenty feet in length and from ten to
| fifteen feet wide.
The fruit is generally double, but at
| times triple and sometimes quadruple.
They average eighteen inches In
length. are often three feet in circum-
ference and weigh forty to fifty
pounds. They are easily the largest
and heaviest of known tree fruits.
The tree in the garden is now fine
specimen, with leaves some five feet In
length. 1t was terminated In the
Phipps Conservatives, Pittsbtrg, by
Mr.. Falconer while he was In charge of
that institution, and is one of few
which he succeeded in starting. He
thus established the record Of being the
first to propagate the plants in Amer
ca.
Many years ago an attempt was made
to propagate the palm in the Royal
Gardens at Kew. England, from nuts
that were procured at a cost OF f10
each, but it failed.-New York Sun.