01163naa a2200157 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000160006024500550007626000090013152007750014065000190091565300130093470000140094777300440096113660892017-06-01       1983    bl ---       0--  u    #d1 aBRANTON, R.  aA lovely clone of coconuts.h[electronic resource]  c1983  aPalms are fascinatingly diverse. Some of largest and most distinctive leaves, flowers and seeds in the plant kingdom are borne by the 2600 species that are spread throughout the world. They are also one of the most useful groups of plants known to humankind, second perhaps only to the cereals and grasses. For centuries palms have providedthe people of tropical and sub-tropical areas with food, drink, fuel and shelter; the coconut palm in particular is with some justice known as the "tree of life" palms are now also commercially important, but production is undermined by the variable quality of cultivated palms. A solution is at hand: for botanists have just found a way to produce clones, millions of replicates of a single palm, by persuading ordinary cells....  aCocos Nucifera  aCoqueiro1 aBLAKE, J.  tNew Scientistgv. 98, p. 554-557, 1983.