branched coconut palms_furtado
TRANSCRIPT
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13. . epson, F. P.
Depart.
ngric, l
ij i, Pall/pillet r,'o. ] j
.
p.
3, Suva 1915.
l ~
'Kern er
I on
Maurilaul1,
A- The Na.lmuZ History
of
P7,MltS.
Rngli
sh
Eel
.
Yol.
n ,
1.
onelol1
1895. pp.
9(i
99.
I :' . I, uth, B. fla11 dbllch der lilldcnbiolo.r;ie. BIl.
III
, L
ei
p'l,ig.
19M, pp
.
59
and ')8 .
10.
1\1IJlI
'er , Jls ie M., Imperfec-t C o o n l 1 t
o ' l / . / I i . .\" e /l) J 017t; Hal .
(:(trf/.
.
11
, 1901 , PI'. 69-71.
1
7.
I,oyola, J. I. rle.
j i l i
'
ILI as I lIi{;ia'
lI(Js, Orlim ,
Cioa,
1806.
18. I'etch, '
I .
'l'he Flower 0'1
ihe
Cocon ut- Trop . .'I.r;rirll/.I1I.1i.,/ .
XU , 19 1B. pp.
5
In.
Ilnngachari.
K.
-
JI
.l;a:n1l1J7
of
NlclI1en/al'l/
lio/
I
I/I,I/
/01
I idin.
2nd
ErlitOo
Marlra s.
p. ~
2,n. ~ a . ' 1 . ~ < f
de.
0 ('ol/1U iro, :\ov>I-Uoa .
~ 9
2 1.
Samp
son .
1-1.
COo The ('OCOIl1 /
1 01111.
I,ondon, '192:, .
..
Smith. If.
fl.
F.
A. fl
. 1II1 e, .( O,O/llUS: fhe
( ' O I i S O / . ~ of
II, I
ga.,I,
2nd
E(l . London, 191,3. .
\'an
(ler I\olrl . Quoted
h ~
I-hlll ger ,
PI' . ?,
:L
2., . \\'orsd e
ll
, \\'. C
o {rili cip/es at { lal1/-T I'I'II/olo(J J. \'01.
I I,
Lon
dol1
191
G, pp
. 191-102.
BR NCHED COCONUT
PALMS
ND THEIR
FERTILITY
Apropos of the note on the
Fel'till:tY, of
Bmnchcri
( oco lltil
Pltllns
by Mr
.
Burkill,
published on page 1-2 of Vol.
III
of this
Rltllelin, the following may not he without in tere. t to reaelers.
Xorma ll
),
one coconut fruit gives ri se to .one shoot an el this
in its t
urn
to one stem.
t
is not
inf
requently, howeve l',
thnt
one
meets with
wiele
deviations from
this
normal
p henomen on. A nu t,
for
in
tance, may on
germination,
give ri se to more th
an
one shoot,
each
arising
from a sep
arate carpe
l in the
nu
t.
Th
e writer has
110t
~ o n l e
across an instance where a
nut
h
ad mor
e tlian two fer tile
c
HI'pel
s:
but
it
must
be
re
member
ed
that
the coco
nu
t has a
tr
ilo
Plllar ovary whereill normally t
wo
of t
he
locules become abortive.
('a
ses, the;efore. ma.' occur ;vhere all three
ca rp
els
ma.,I'
be
stimu-
lated i'o
be
come fertile a.' in
so
me speci
eR Tela1
'ed
to Cocos 1Mwifem.
POI'heR
repo
rt
s o
a
nut with t
hr
ee cell s
separated
hI'
leathery
',11k
8aml'son (I )
appears
to ha
ve
seen cases where t he septa
separntill
g the ovul
es
were
hard
amI
not
lea.thery.
'POl
be
s. in his
ll1'tic-le above refe
rred
t o write : 1 ha
ve
seen al 0 nuts with
c e l l ~
l'angilll( from
1'0111'
to eight
f;lld
ten .
r
~ e n d
VOll
a rough ouLline
sketr
h
01'
a tree whir-h ha s eome
up from
a
nu
t of fOlll'teell ce
l k
all of
\\
'h ieh
germinating.
prorlu( ' in, ); a
h'pe
with fomtecn stems
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u ll.ited at the
ua
se.
f
Forbes' conclusions as to
the
occurrence
0 1
mor
e than t
hr
ee ce lls in a nut are con'ect, then
the
phenomenon
C'oncer
ned mig
ht
ue a case of vegeta tive
multip
li
cation
of carpel
s.
I f, all the othe hand , his conclnsiol1 s were based mer ely on
the
Illlm
h
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ca
Res
gJVw g c isagn)'lble smell. '
l'hough
a specia l wateh was no t
ke
pt
on the plan tat ion 1'0 1' t he di sease ,e1 it IV,I S cust
omarv
to
kill and bUnl nil such p lan ts t ha t cam e to the no tice of t he
manager
a nd sp ray the
lJ
eighbouring OJ]es wit h c
opp
er sulphate . rt was
sa id tha t t he disease
wa
s never see n in t he I
i}s
ta te on p[,ln
ts
old
er
t han te n 01' tweh e vea l'S a nd t hat t he cases were alw,
lVs
spoTud ie,
the a
U-ac
kee l tl pes ll -lre
J oCl.:
tllT iJlg ill groups
01
he
cu
-llg Il \
r
defill ijc
relation to the old ('a es .
All
t hi s inl'OI
l11
ation
cO
llpled with
nn'
obse rv
ation
of t he Iact t ha t n umerou s plants sh
ow
in g s imilar
o\'mp to IllS, eseap cd th e Ho t ice of the Ill all in cha rge of t he phlllta
hon
and thai
' t he disease neither killed these nn
treated
pl ant,
nor
d id i t seem to spreael rolll these to t he neighho uring trees
leel me to the eonclusion t ha t t he t rouble ill qu estion wa s ot her
t ha n the ' uspected bnl r s.
Rut
even if their l ife was I)] olongerl fo r mOre ve
aT
S T elo
n
ot
think they would g ive
ri
se
to
the peTmanent ly br
an
ched palm.
at
len
st
the phen
omr
non concern ed woulrl he
ve
r
I'
different
f rom
that of fhe ord inHl 'y Hl11 iAca
i:io
n
in palms.
(cf. Burkill's
pa
.per ).
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The pe
dun
cle
that
bears
th
ese abnormal
st
ruc
tm es
is essentially
oE th e type of the normal inflorescen
ces
: clean, and fibrous for a
:f
oot or less hom the base, while t he structure of the
bran
ches
from the point of fork is
qf
the type of the stem. 'rhe peduncle
do
es
n
ot
in
crea
se
in
si
ze
mu
ch more t
han th
e pe
du
ncle of normal
initoresccnces, and , like t he peduncle of normal inflorescen ces, has
a te
nd
ency to form absciss layer a
nd separat
e form th e
main
axis.
S
om
e of th
ese
bulbils bear minute inflorescen
ces
con sisting of tiny
male floret s and no femal e. In the cases ob
se
rved by me these
itowers were borne by secondary shoots
pr
oduce d on t he bulbils.
The bulbils do not show any tend ency to form roots in urti
r.c-ia
l
media ( ) ('
0).
Dr.
Puln
ey A
nd
y
('
) has described a
mO
llstrosit.y which
con sisted in the phyHody of t he greater portion of
th
e female
itowers in the spadix, and not of
th
e whole inflorescence itself.
H ere too the flow er-bud cannot, by such metamorphosis, g.ive
ri
se
to r amifica ti on in a
palm
without a t ru e axillary leaf-bud.
Fertility
In the abo ve ciscu
ss
ion i t bec
om
es cle
ar
that the term
br
anching is loo
se
ly applied to various
ph
enomena, including
some t
hat
ca
nnot
be
cl
assed as bran ching.
And
it is possible t
hat
the conce
ption
that the true branched palms
ar
e permanently
in
fert
ile has org
ina
ted from the con fusion w
hi
ch ex ists as to the
meaning of t he te
rm
bran
ched coconut Jalms,
th at
is, by t rans
ference to other s of th e conception derived from some special case
or
vh
enomena. Otherwi
se
the
pr
evalen
ce
of the idea th
at th
e
branched palms
ar
e perman en tly unprod uctive is r eally unfound ed.
I
have
seen a
coc onut In
anchin
g
at the ba
se
bea
rin
g
f
ruit
s ; a
nd
there are numerous refer ences which show
tha
t branched
coconu ts are not in fe
rtil
e. Morri
s, (11)
for in
sta
nce, rep
ort
s a
fruit
in the Kew Museum
hom
a branch d coconu t t ree of the
Fiji I slands. According to Scott, ( IS) there was a
t.r
ee in the
vi c
ini
ty of C alcutta wi th five fruit-bea
ring
branches . H enry (8)
makes mention of a coconut t ree in the Marquezas I slands, which
at the age of eighteen branched in to two, both heacIs starting to beaT
fruit
s after two years from
th
e o
cc
urrence of
th
e forking. Among
these cases there
ar
e
at
least two references which are of inter es t
to Malay
a.
Th
e front ispiece of the t reati
se
on coconut by Munro
and Brown
('
) is of a coconut tree branc
hin
g out ne
ar
the to.p
into fi
ve
distin ct stem
s,
each of which is carry
in
g f
ru
i t. 'l'he
econd is of a coconut t ree in 'P enang which hall six bTan ches, each
of which were loaded with nuts
.
(3) Apart f rom these, the
ons
oi
s of the rtst
by Smi th and P ape (,0)
and
Hunge
r '
s J
ocos
nm ci f m ( 0). have photographs of branched coconut palms bearing
frui ts .
In
fact c
on
sidering
th
e presen
ce
of the photographs
in
the
above quoted st
andar
d
tr
e
ati
ses on co
conu
t, one cannot un der s
tand
the reputed prevalence in Malaya of t he view that branched coc
onut
palms aTe st erile,
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8
By this I do not wi sh to be lUlderstood to say that all t ruly
bran ched coconut palms are productive. Cases may o
cc
ur wheTe
branched coc
onut
s may not start yielding for a very long period ;
but in such cases, before one can draw conclusions,
it
has to
be
ascer
tained whether the unproduc
ti
ve
ness is due to
want
of
pr
oper
caT
e,
to the fact t
hat
the tTee has
not
yet
fin
ished bra
n.
c
hi
ng, or to
som e other cause.
A veTY inteTesting })oint in connec tion with th
ese ab
normal
palms is to Imow how then progeny behave and i t is very astonishing
that nobody has ye t t
Ti
ed to solve this question. t is
not
yet
known, fOT in stance, whether
see
ds of th
ese pa
lms Will keep true
to the abnoTmal chaTactei 01 Teturn to the character o:f the parents
to these abnormal ones ;
wh
ether all of the
see
ds will do so 01: only,
a paTt of t hem, and. how
la
rge a
par
t. I n carrying investigations
in these lines care has to be taken to
pr
event cross-fer tilisation
wi
th the pollen from other plants. Tb is ,ll probably he
an
easy
matt
er with tbe dwarf coconuts
in :NIa
l aya where normally the
male and female flow ers r ipen i l l a manner as to cnSUTe self
poll
ination
if protec ted by a bag fTom foreign pollen.
f,
however,
t he
in
florescences of these abllorm al palms are protanch ous, then
the female flow ers will have to be artifi cially ferti li sed wi th the
pollen from the male flowers in the same
tree
. The brallches pf
palms subject to heavy w:inds
and
, therefor
e,
liable to be broken ,
may be induced to form
ae
rial roots on stems by marc
otta
ge and
th
en detached and nlanted
in
a place convenie
nt
to carry on with
the
obs
ervations. The crown of a palm thus detached has been
o
bse
rved by me to geow wh en planted out amI this
pra
ctice, i t
appears, is som etim
es
resorted to by the gardeners in Malabar,
Inelia. (0)
I n cases where the infloresce))ces foliate I have not come
across a sillgle refeTence stating that such tTees or their b
ul
biis have
borne fruits. In the case describ
ec
l bv Dr. u l n Andy the
tr
ee
do es not pToduce a pCJfect
fru
it. And probably these aTe the only
two
ph
enomena of the on
es
described above which are infer
ti
le.
These cases however should not be confu
se
d with the ones where
coco
nu
t fru its , instead of falling when matUTe and dry, remain on
the stalk
aud
under cer tain con ditions germin
at
e on the tree.
GuPpy ( ) saw a case where a seedling thus ge
rm
inated was about
g h
t ~
n in ches high.
C. X.
FURTA
D
O
Bibl
ography
1.
AN
DY
, P . S.- On Branched P alms in Southe
rn Tnd ia.
T1'( ll
s.
L
inn
So
c. XXVI, (187
0)
pp. 661-662.
See alRo J. Shor
t
t s ar ti cle on the same subjec t in the
JOU1 .
Linn. Soc. Botany, Vol XI, (1871) pp. 14-17.
2. BURKILL, I . J-f.- An m o m t y in the Coconut Palm.
J 1t1.
R . .As;n
c Soc., S
tmi
ts
131 . No. 9, (1915) p. 15.
3.
Ce
ylon
Ob
se1
vc
r.
~
ov.
7,
] 9M- Quoted
in
A.gric .
IV
ews,
Barbad
os
,
T, p. 62,
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4. l OHJJ I:S, H. O.
otes on the Cocos N u c i f e r a - J o ~ Botany,
XVII,
(1879) pp. 19 3-194.
5.
FUJt1'ADO, C. X. and BAlUlli'J:O,
P.
C.-
An
Abnormality of
Coconut Infloresce
nce-The
Poona l
1g
l
ic
.
Co
llege Maga
zine, XII, (19 ) No. 2, p. 81-82.
6.
FUH1'ADO , C. X.-Vegetative Reproduction in Coconuts
The POO'
( g'ric. Coli. Mag.
XV, 1922, pp. 144-146.
7. Guppy, IT.
B.- Obse'rv(,tions of
u Natu
'mlist in the Pacific,
London, 1906, Vol II, p. 472.
8. HEN
RY,
('.- l ntelm,t. R ev , of Sci. (md Pmct . of Agl'im,ltu're,
Rome, (1920), No. 10 88 .
9. H UNGEH F.
W.
1'.- Cocos m,cij'era., Amsterdam, 1920, p. 218,
pI.
LIX.
10. IYE NGA
R,
M. O. P .
ote on a Bulbiferous Coconut Tree
from M:
alabar-Jowr.
Ind'ian Botany, Vol. III, (1923)
pp. 2 9-2
91.
11. MOlUll S,
D.-On
the Phenomenon Concerned
in
the Pro
duction of Forked and Branched Palms-Joul. Linn. Soc.
Bot.
XXIX,
(1892) pp. 281-298.
12. MU NHO, Jl.. IV.
an
c
BllOIV N. JJ. C A. Pmctic(,l G ~ , i d e to
Coco
nut Planting, London, 1916.
13
. l)],1 c]I , T. hnormalities of the Coconut Palm-Ann. Roy.
Bot.
Gw
r
d.
Pcmdeniya
Vol VI, (1915-17) pp . 25-29.
14
. PET
CH '1. and
G,
WD, C. H .- The Heplacement of the
ferminal Bud ill the Coconut Palm. Annuls of Botany,
XXXVII,
1923, pp. 445-450.
15. RIDLEY, H . N .-Branching ill Palms-Annals of Botuny,
Vol
XXI,
(1907) , .pp.
415-See
also WorsdelFs Ter
atology,
Vol
1.
pp. 10,9-111.
16. SAMp
ON H
C.- T he COCO'n-l,t Fulm : The Science und
Pmcti
ce of C o c o
n ~ , C ~ l t i v a t i o n London, 1923. pp.
17.
~ ( ) U O U T J o : et L E K
O V ~ K y
Q u o t
e
d by WOIlS
DELL,
01 .
Cit.
pp. 85 et 90.
18.
SCOTT J. - (]wrden
e'/ S'
C
h1-onicle, Vo l. L,
pt
. I (1874) p. 11 8
19. SUAHPLES, A., and LAMBOUlulE,
J . -Ob
servations in Malaya
on Bud-rot of Coc
ouut
s. Anna,ls of Botuny,
.
XXXVI,
19
22, pp. 55 -
70
.
20. SM l1 lf,
U H.
and PAPE, F . A.
G.
Coc
onuts: The Consols
o the East, London, 1913, p. 424.
21 . WonsDle
LL
, IV. C.-
'1
he Principles of
Plant-Terato
logy, Vol.
I,
London, 1915, pp, 109-111.