At the risk of being really boring I thought I'd re-send this message I
sent a few weeks ago to plant-ed.:
On page 729 of the 2nd edition of "Comparative Morphology of Vascular
Plants" by Foster & Gifford [the latest - 3rd - edition has eliminated the
chapter on fruits, so don't look there] you can find illustrations of a
developing coconut fruit & seed, taken from work of Troll. Fig. 21-10D
indicates that what emerges from the husk is not a cotyldedon. The
cotyledon is inside and is haustorial (as are the cotyledons of many
monocots, as I understand it), and is the enlarged structure referred to as
a "coconut apple" in one of the e-mails on this subject.
Esther McLaughlin
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Esther G. McLaughlin
Associate Professor of Biology
Augsburg College
2211 Riverside Ave.
Minneapolis MN 55454 USA
612/330-1074 // FAX:612/330-1649
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