Coconut palm Cocos nucifera is widespread throughout the Northern Marshall Islands and must varied in height, ground. be considered but the the ones dominate food selected had plant. coconuts Individual within 25 ft trees of the Occasionally we were able to hire local men to climb the trees and pick coconuts at heights of 45 ft. A coconut sample consisted of five coconuts from one or all three stages of coconut used in the diet--drinking nut, copra nut, and sprouting nut. Drinking coconuts Marshallese. are utilized for both eating The juice is very sweet and the meat and soft drinking by the and palatable. drinking coconut stage is the most difficult to identify. The The outer fiberous husk is green to yellow in color, the inner husk is saturated with water, while the seed coat or shell is cream colored and firm. Inside the shell the meat (endosperm) is not fully formed and is gelatinous, sweet, and nutritious. ‘The juice generally fills the seed cavity completely and is often under pressure. Copra nuts are used for food flavoring in many areas of the Pacific as well as for oil that is of commercial value. discarded and the meat grated and squeezed. coconut cream to be combined with other Customarily The extract foods.. The the is used drained juice is to prepare copra meat is usually fed to the livestock, which are later consumed by the people. The husk is dry ordinarily shrivel. yellowish brown The woody seed coat to is gray brown and dark brown and is beginning the meat is to fully and formed, white, and firm. Less than one-half of the seed cavity contains juice and its flavor is bland. The eye of the copra nut shows no sign of sprouting and the cotyledon has not yet begun to grow. Sprouting coconuts spongy, as food by pastry~like cotyledon or embryo food that seed cavity. are utilized the Marshallese fills the eat the interior of the This embryo food absorbs moisture and nutrients who from the seed cavity (meat and juice) to support the growth of the germinating coconut's leaf sheath and root. Sprouting coconuts are characterized by a 1- to 15-in. leaf sheath, roots, and a grayish~brown shriveled husk. Pandanus was the second most common food plant encountered and both wild and cultivated utilized as radionuclide highly prized varieties food, they were are concentrations throughout an in collected. Though important indicator plant species. Cultivated the edible the Marshall Islands for wild its varieties to sweet, are not estimate the Pandanus is spicy-flavored juice that is extracted from its numerous keys or phalanges, which are sections