lodicule, lodicula

[Lat. lodicula=a small coverlet, a blanket.] Bot .: The name given by Palisot de Beauvois to the hypogynous scale of a gra . lō-do-i-çe-a, 8. [Named after Laodice, the daughter of Priam and Hecuba. ( Parton.)] Bot.: A genus of Palms, tribe Boras see, and the fan-leaved section of it. Lodoicea seychellarum , the Sea Cocoa-nut or Double Cocoa-nut, is sixty, eighty, or even a hundred feet high. Its leaves bend to the wind, but hold their places tenaciously. Its native country was unknown till 1743 when it was found in the Seychelles Archipelago. Previously it had been known only by "double cocoa-nuts," floating on the sea, or cast on Indian or other Eastern shores. They were supposed to grow in a submarine forest, and to po e fabulous virtues. Now they are believed to be wild only in the Maldives and Laccadives ( Prof. Watt ), those in Seychelles having been planted. Their cabbage-like top is often preserved in vinegar, and eaten. The leaves are employed to thatch houses; the young leaves are made into hats; the trunk split into palisades for surrounding houses and gardens. The hard, black shell of the fruit is used by Indian fakirs as a drinking and begging cup.