COCOANUT, or COCONUT (Fr. coco, Gk. KOCIKL, kouki, cocoa-tree, from Anc. Egypt. kuku, cocoa-tree). The well-known fruit of a species of palm (Cocos itacifcra), perhaps originally a native of the Indian coasts and South Sea Isl ands, although there is evidence of its prehistoric occurrence on the west coast of Central and South America. (For illustration, see Plate of PALMS.) It is now diffused over all tropical regions. The cocoanut palm belongs to a genus having pinnate leaves, and male and female flowers on the same tree, the female flowers at the base of each spadix. There are about 30 known species, nearly all of which are natives of South America. Many of the species prefer dry and somewhat elevated dis tricts. The cocoanut palm, on the contrary, is seldom found at any considerable distance from the seacoast, except where it has been introduced by man, and generally succeeds best in sandy soil near the sea. It is always one of the first of the larger plants to establish itself in the low islands of the Pacific Ocean, as soon as there is soil enough. It has a cylindrical stern, about 2 feet in diameter, and from 60 to 100 feet high, with many rings marking the place of former leaves, and bearing at its summit a crown of from 16 to 20 leaves, which generally curve down ward, and are from 12 to 20 feet in length, with numerous lea flets, 2 to 3 feet long. The flowers proceed from within a large pointed spathe; the fruit grows in short racemes, which bear, in favorable situations, from 5 to 15 nuts; and 10 or 12 of these racemes, in different stages, may be seen at once on a tree, about 80 or 100 nuts being its ordinary annual yield. The tree bears fruit in from seven to eight years from the time of planting, and continues productive for seventy or eighty years. Of the three round, black scars at one end of the shell, the largest one through which an opening is commonly made to get out the milk is the destined outlet of the germinat ing embryo, which is situated there, the kernel consisting generally of the endosperm destined for its nourishment. The thick husk is remark ably adapted to the preservation of the seed, while the nut is tossed about by the waves, until it reaches some shore far distant from that on which it grew.
The cocoanut affords to the inhabitants of many tropical coasts and islands a great part of their food; it is not only eaten as it comes from the tree, both ripe and unripe, being filled in a young state with a pleasant, milky fluid, but is also prepared in a variety of ways, as in curries, etc.
The kernel of the cocoanut contains more than 70 per cent. of a fixed oil, called cocoanut oil, or cocoanut butter. The oil is itself an impor tant article of commerce. being much employed for the manufacture of 'stearin candles,' and also of a 'marine soap' which forms a lather with ea-water. It is also employed as an article of
food, so long as it remains free from rancidity —to which, however, it is very liable. It is obtained by pressure of the bruised kernel, or by boiling over a slow fire, and skimming off the oil as it floats on the surface. A quart, it is said, may be obtained from seven or eight cocoa nuts. It is liquid at the ordinary temperature of tropical countries, but in colder climates be comes a white, solid, butter-like oil. It becomes liquid about 74° F. It can be separated by com pression into a liquid portion called `olein,' and a more solid part termed 'stearin,' or `cocosin,' which is of complex constitution. The cake re sulting from the pressure of the endosperm for its oil is an important cattle-food. Cocoanut oil is not a good lamp-oil; as it chars on the wick and burns with a smoky flame.
The root of the cocoanut palm possesses nar cotic properties, and is sometimes chewed in stead of the areca-nut. When the stem is young, its central part is sweet and edible; but when old, this is a mass of hard fibre. The terminal bud (palm-cabbage) is esteemed a delicacy, and trees are often cut down for the sake of it. The saccharine sap of the flower-spathes before they open is a source of toddy and palm wine, and by distillation the liquor arrack. In the East In dies the juice is often boiled down to yield sugar (jaggery).
The dried leaves of the cocoanut palm are much used for thatch, and for many other pur poses, as the making of mats, screens, baskets, etc., by plaiting the leaflets. The midribs of the leaves supply the natives of tropical coasts with oars. The wood of the lower part of the stem is very hard, takes a beautiful polish, and is employed for a great variety of purposes, under the name of porcupine-wood. The fibrous cen tre of old stems is made into cordage. By far the most important fibrous product of the cocoa nut-tree is coir (q.v.), the fibre of the husk of the somewhat immature nut. If the nuts are allowed to ripen, the coir is coarser and more brittle. The husk of the ripe nut is used for fuel, and also, when cut across, for polishing furniture, scrubbing floors, etc. The shell of the cocoanut is made into cups, goblets, ladles, etc., and is often finely polished and elaborately orna mented by carving.
Cocos hutyracea. one of the South American species of this genus, is a very large tree, and its nut abounds in an oil and butter of similar quality to that obtained from the eneoanut. The double cocoanut of the Seychelles Islands is the fruit of a palm of a different genus (Lodoicea .scchelbarum). Cocos Weddellianum is the spe cies most commonly cultivated in greenhouses and in the open as an ornamental. For illustra tion, see PALMS.