Cocoa-nut Tree, _cocos nucifera,_ belongs to the order monœcia hexandria. Male calyx is trifid, the corolla three-petalled, with five stamens; the female calyx is quinquefid, the corolla divided into three segments, and furnished with three stamens. The cocoa-nut tree is supposed to have been brought from the Maldives to the West Indies. It loves a sandy soil, and sometimes attains the height of eighty feet. The trunk is a straight column, slightly annulated, and tapering from the base to the summit, where it expands into branches of about fifteen feet long, and in a circular form, among which break forth the sheaths, which are open from top to bottom and full of flowers, or clusters of embryos. The branches are apparently fastened at the top with stringy threads, interwoven like a piece of coarse sackcloth; the pinnæ are of a deep glossy green, and, near the trunk, are often a foot long. The nut is much esteemed for the sweetness of its kernel, as well as for the milk and oil it produces. When the kernel first begins to grow, it is in the form of jelly, which lines the interior of the shell; as it increases in age, this jelly thickens, and becomes a solid mass of about a quarter of an inch thick, and of the whiteness of unsullied snow. The jelly nuts contain the largest supply of milk, or water, as it is generally termed in Antigua, often as much as a pint, or a pint and a half; it is most esteemed in this state, the ripe nut being seldom eaten in its crude form, but generally compounded into different kinds of sweetmeats, or shipped to England. Thomson, speaking of the cocoa-nut, observes— “Amid those orchards of the sun, Give me to drain the cocoa’s milky bowl, And from the palm to draw its freshening fruit.” These nuts are enclosed in a thick husk, composed of strong fibres, thickly matted together, which, when young, is of a bright green, but which attains a dull brown as it arrives at maturity; from these husks an excellent dye can be obtained, while the dried ones are now manufactured into mattresses, floor-cloths, and all kinds of brooms and mats. The trunk of the cocoa-nut tree is capable of being made into cordage, and, if tapped, a clear liquid issues, to which the name of arrack is given, which, when fermented, becomes an intoxicating drink. The shell of the nut is sometimes beautifully carved and polished, and, when mounted in silver, is used as cups or sugar-basins. From the kernel a clear white oil is extracted, which burns with great brilliancy, and emits a pleasant odour. Whitewood-Tree, _bucida buceras,_ is a beautiful forest-tree, and one that lives to a great age; there are some still remaining in the island which are said to be coeval with the first settlers. It rises to the height of forty or fifty-feet, and is thickly covered with a light-green foliage, here and there sprinkled with a leaf of the brightest red. It is said that ships built from its timber never breeds worms.