coconut is the fruit of the coconut palm tree (Cocos,nucifera) that is botanically classified as a drupe, similar to a peach.
Coconut tree (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus Cocos.The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which botanically is a drupe, not a nut. Originally native to Central Indo-Pacific, they are now ubiquitous in coastal tropical regions and are a cultural icon of the tropics.
Coconut tree provides food, fuel, cosmetics, folk medicine and building materials, among many other uses. The inner flesh of the mature seed, as well as the coconut milk extracted from it, forms a regular part of the diets of many people in the tropics and subtropics. Coconuts are distinct from other fruits because their endosperm contains a large quantity of an almost clear liquid, called "coconut water" or "coconut juice". Mature, ripe coconuts can be used as edible seeds, or processed for oil and plant milk from the flesh, charcoal from the hard shell, and coir from the fibrous husk. Dried coconut flesh is called copra, and the oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking, aswell as in soaps and cosmetics. Sweet coconut sap can be made into drinks or fermented into palm wine or coconut vinegar. The hard shells, fibrous husks and long pinnate leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decoration.
Coconut tree has cultural and religious significance in certain societies, particularly in the Austronesian cultures of the Western Pacific where it is featured in their mythologies, songs, and oral traditions. The fall of its mature fruit has led to a preoccupation with death by coconut. It also had ceremonial importance in pre-colonial animistic religions. It has also acquired religious significance in South Asian cultures, where it is used in rituals of Hinduism. It forms the basis of wedding and worship rituals in Hinduism. It also plays a central role in the Coconut Religion founded in 1963 in Vietnam.
Coconut were first domesticated by the Austronesian peoples in Island Southeast Asia and were spread during the Neolithic via their seaborne migrations as far east as the Pacific Islands, and as far west as Madagascar and the Comoros. They played a critical role in the long sea voyages of Austronesians by providing a portable source of food and water, as well as providing building materials for Austronesian outrigger boats. Coconuts were also later spread in historic times along the coasts of the Indian and Atlantic Oceans by South Asian, Arab, and European sailors. Based on these separate introductions, coconut populations can still be divided into Pacific coconuts and Indo-Atlantic coconuts, respectively. Coconuts were introduced by Europeans to the Americas during the colonial era in the Columbian exchange, but there is evidence of a possible pre-Columbian introduction of Pacific coconuts to Panama by Austronesian sailors. The evolutionary origin of the coconut is under dispute, with theories stating that it may have evolved in Asia, South America, or Pacific islands millions of years ago before eventually becoming confined to the central Indo-Pacific.
Coconut tree can grow up to 30 metres (100 feet) tall and can yield up to 75 fruits per year, though fewer than 30 is more typical. Plants are intolerant to cold and prefer copious precipitation and full sunlight. Many insect pests and diseases affect the species and are a nuisance for commercial production. In 2022, about 73% of the world's supply of coconuts was produced by Indonesia, India, and the Philippines.
Fruit
the coconut fruit is a drupe, not a true nut. Like other fruits, it has three layers: the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp. The exocarp is the glossy outer skin, usually yellow-green to yellow-brown in color. The mesocarp is composed of a fiber, called coir, which has many traditional and commercial uses. Both the exocarp and the mesocarp make up the "husk" of the coconut, while the endocarp makes up the hard coconut "shell". The endocarp is around 4 millimetres (1⁄8 inch) thick and has three distinctive germination pores (micropyles) on the distal end. Two of the pores are plugged (the "eyes"), while one is functional.
Palm heavy with fruit
The interior of the endocarp is hollow and is lined with a thin brown seed coat around 0.2 mm (1⁄64 in) thick. The endocarp is initially filled with a multinucleate liquid endosperm (the coconut water). As development continues, cellular layers of endosperm deposit along the walls of the endocarp up to 11 mm (3⁄8 in) thick, starting at the distal end. They eventually form the edible solid endosperm (the "coconut meat" or "coconut flesh") which hardens over time. The small cylindrical embryo is embedded in the solid endosperm directly below the functional pore of the endosperm. During germination, the embryo pushes out of the functional pore and forms a haustorium (the coconut sprout) inside the central cavity. The haustorium absorbs the solid endosperm to nourish the seedling.
Coconut fruits have two distinctive forms depending on § domestication. Wild coconuts feature an elongated triangular fruit with a thicker husk and a smaller amount of endosperm. These allow the fruits to be more buoyant and make it easier for them to lodge into sandy shorelines, making their shape ideal for ocean dispersal.Domesticated Pacific coconuts, on the other hand, are rounded in shape with a thinner husk and a larger amount of endosperm. Domesticated coconuts also contain more coconut water.These two forms are referred to by the Samoan terms niu kafa for the elongated wild coconuts, and niu vai for the rounded domesticated Pacific coconuts.
A full-sized coconut fruit weighs about 1.4 kilograms (3 pounds 1 ounce). Coconuts sold domestically in coconut-producing countries are typically not de-husked. Especially immature coconuts (6 to 8 months from flowering) are sold for coconut water and softer jelly-like coconut meat (known as "green coconuts", "young coconuts", or "water coconuts"), where the original coloration of the fruit is more aesthetically pleasing.
Whole mature coconuts (11 to 13 months from flowering) sold for export, however, typically have the husk removed to reduce weight and volume for transport. This results in the naked coconut "shell" with three pores more familiar in countries where coconuts are not grown locally. De-husked coconuts typically weigh around 750 to 850 grams (1 lb 10 oz to 1 lb 14 oz). De-husked coconuts are also easier for consumers to open, but have a shorter postharvest storage life of around two to three weeks at temperatures of 12 to 15 °C (54 to 59 °F) or up to 2 months at 0 to 1.5 °C (32.0 to 34.7 °F). In comparison, mature coconuts with the husk intact can be stored for three to five months at normal room temperature.
Roots
Unlike some other plants, the palm tree has neither a taproot nor root hairs, but has a fibrous root system. The root system consists of an abundance of thin roots that grow outward from the plant near the surface. Only a few of the roots penetrate deep into the soil for stability. This type of root system is known as fibrous or adventitious, and is a characteristic of grass species. Other types of large trees produce a single downward-growing tap root with a number of feeder roots growing from it. 2,000–4,000 adventitious roots may grow, each about 1 cm (1⁄2 in) large. Decayed roots are replaced regularly as the tree grows new ones.
Inflorescene
The palm produces both the female and male flowers on the same inflorescence; thus, the palm is monoecious. However, there is some evidence that it may be polygamomonoecious and may occasionally have bisexual flowers. The female flower is much larger than the male flower. Flowering occurs continuously. Coconut palms are believed to be largely cross-pollinated, although most dwarf varieties are self-pollinating.
Phylogeny
The evolutionary history and fossil distribution of Cocos nucifera and other members of the tribe Cocoseae is more ambiguous than modern-day dispersal and distribution, with its ultimate origin and pre-human dispersal still unclear. There are currently two major viewpoints on the origins of the genus Cocos, one in the Indo-Pacific, and another in South America. The vast majority of Cocos-like fossils have been recovered generally from only two regions in the world: New Zealand and west-central India. However, like most palm fossils, Cocos-like fossils are still putative, as they are usually difficult to identify. The earliest Cocos-like fossil to be found was Cocos zeylandica, a fossil species described as small fruits, around 3.5 cm (1+1⁄2 in) × 1.3 to 2.5 cm (1⁄2 to 1 in) in size, recovered from the Miocene (~23 to 5.3 million years ago) of New Zealand in 1926. Since then, numerous other fossils of similar fruits were recovered throughout New Zealand from the Eocene, Oligocene, and possibly the Holocene. But research on them is still ongoing to determine their phylogenetic affinities. Endt & Hayward (1997) have noted their resemblance to members of the South American genus Parajubaea, rather than Cocos, and propose a South American origin. One study, however, suggests that their diversity in New Zealand indicate that they evolved endemically, rather than being introduced to the islands by long-distance dispersal. In west-central India, numerous fossils of Cocos-like fruits, leaves, and stems have been recovered from the Deccan Traps. They include morphotaxa like Palmoxylon sundaran, Palmoxylon insignae, and Palmocarpon cocoides. Cocos-like fossils of fruits include Cocos intertrappeansis, Cocos pantii, and Cocos sahnii. They also include fossil fruits that have been tentatively identified as modern Cocos nucifera. These include two specimens named Cocos palaeonucifera and Cocos binoriensis, both dated by their authors to the Maastrichtian–Danian of the early Tertiary (70 to 62 million years ago). C. binoriensis has been claimed by their authors to be the earliest known fossil of Cocos nucifera.
Outside of New Zealand and India, only two other regions have reported Cocos-like fossils, namely Australia and Colombia. In Australia, a Cocos-like fossil fruit, measuring 10 cm × 9.5 cm (3+7⁄8 in × 3+3⁄4 in), were recovered from the Chinchilla Sand Formation dated to the latest Pliocene or basal Pleistocene. Rigby (1995) assigned them to modern Cocos nucifera based on its size. In Colombia, a single Cocos-like fruit was recovered from the middle to late Paleocene Cerrejón Formation. The fruit, however, was compacted in the fossilization process and it was not possible to determine if it had the diagnostic three pores that characterize members of the tribe Cocoseae. Nevertheless, one study assigned it to Cocos based on the size and the ridged shape of the fruit.
Further complicating measures to determine the evolutionary history of Cocos is the genetic diversity present within C. nucifera as well as its relatedness to other palms. Phylogenetic evidence supports the closest relatives of Cocos being either Syagrus or Attalea, both of which are found in South America. However, Cocos is not thought to be indigenous to South America, and the highest genetic diversity is present in Asian Cocos, indicating that at least the modern species Cocos nucifera is native to there. In addition, fossils of potential Cocos ancestors have been recovered from both Colombia and India. In order to resolve this enigma, a 2014 study proposed that the ancestors of Cocos had likely originated on the Caribbean coast of what is now Colombia, and during the Eocene the ancestral Cocos performed a long-distance dispersal across the Atlantic Ocean to North Africa. From here, island-hopping via coral atolls lining the Tethys Sea, potentially boosted by ocean currents at the time, would have proved crucial to dispersal, eventually allowing ancestral coconuts to reach India. The study contended that an adaptation to coral atolls would explain the prehistoric and modern distributions of Cocos, would have provided the necessary evolutionary pressures, and would account for morphological factors such as a thick husk to protect against ocean degradation and provide a moist medium in which to germinate on sparse atolls.
Etymology
The name coconut is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese word coco, meaning 'head' or 'skull' after the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features. Coco and coconut apparently came from 1521 encounters by Portuguese and Spanish explorers with Pacific Islanders, with the coconut shell reminding them of a ghost or witch in Portuguese folklore called coco (also côca). In the West it was originally called nux indica, a name used by Marco Polo in 1280 while in Sumatra. He took the term from the Arabs, who called it جوز هندي jawz hindī, translating to 'Indian nut'. Thenga, its Tamil/Malayalam name, was used in the detailed description of coconut found in Itinerario by Ludovico di Varthema published in 1510 and also in the later Hortus Indicus Malabaricus.
Carl Linnaeus first wanted to name the coconut genus Coccus from Latinizing the Portuguese word coco, because he saw works by other botanists in middle of the 17th century use the name as well. He consulted the catalogue Herbarium Amboinense by Georg Eberhard Rumphius where Rumphius said that coccus was a homonym of coccum and coccus from Greek κόκκος kokkos meaning "grain" or "berry", but Romans identified coccus with "kermes insects"; Rumphius preferred the word cocus as a replacement. However, the word cocus could also mean "cook" like coquus in Latin, so Linnaeus chose Cocos directly from the Portuguese word coco instead.
The specific name nucifera is derived from the Latin words nux (nut) and fera (bearing), for 'nut-bearing'.
Origin
The genus Cocos has a long evolutionary history. Fossils of cf. Cocos sp. are known from the Palaeocene Cerrejón Formation of Colombia and preserve insect borings believed to represent palm bruchines feeding on them, indicating that insects have been preying on proto-coconuts since the Middle Palaeocene.
Modern genetic studies have identified the center of origin of coconuts as being the Central Indo-Pacific, the region between western Southeast Asia and Melanesia, where it shows greatest genetic diversity. Their cultivation and spread was closely tied to the early migrations of the Austronesian peoples who carried coconuts as canoe plants to the islands they settled. The similarities of the local names in the Austronesian region is also cited as evidence that the plant originated in the region. For example, the Polynesian and Melanesian term niu; Tagalog and Chamorro term niyog; and the Malay word nyiur or nyior. Other evidence for a Central Indo-Pacific origin is the native range of the coconut crab; and the higher amounts of C. nucifera-specific insect pests in the region (90%) in comparison to the Americas (20%), and Africa (4%).
Geographical distributions of Indo-Atlantic and Pacific coconut subpopulations and their genetic composition[49]
Inferred historical introduction of coconuts from the original centers of diversity in the Indian subcontinent and Island Southeast Asia
A study in 2011 identified two highly genetically differentiated subpopulations of coconuts, one originating from Island Southeast Asia (the Pacific group) and the other from the southern margins of the Indian subcontinent (the Indo-Atlantic group). The Pacific group is the only one to display clear genetic and phenotypic indications that they were domesticated; including dwarf habit, self-pollination, and the round niu vai fruit morphology with larger endosperm-to-husk ratios. The distribution of the Pacific coconuts correspond to regions settled by Austronesian voyagers indicating that its spread was largely the result of human introductions. It is most strikingly displayed in Madagascar, an island settled by Austronesian sailors at around 2000 to 1500 BP. The coconut populations on the island show genetic admixture between the two subpopulations indicating that Pacific coconuts were first brought by the Austronesian settlers, which then interbred with the later Indo-Atlantic coconuts brought by Europeans from India.
Boat on ocean
A wa'a kaulua (double-hulled canoe) from Hawaiʻi. Catamarans were one of the early technological innovations of Austronesian peoples that allowed them to colonize the islands of the Indo-Pacific and introduce coconuts and other canoe plants along their migration routes.
Genetic studies of coconuts have also confirmed pre-Columbian populations of coconuts in Panama. However, it is not native and displays a genetic bottleneck resulting from a founder effect. A study in 2008 showed that the coconuts in the Americas are genetically closest related to the coconuts in the Philippines, and not to any other nearby coconut populations (including Polynesia). Such an origin indicates that the coconuts were not introduced naturally, such as by sea currents. The researchers concluded that it was brought by early Austronesian sailors to the Americas from at least 2,250 BP, and may be proof of pre-Columbian contact between Austronesian cultures and South American cultures. It is further strengthened by other similar botanical evidence of contact, like the pre-colonial presence of sweet potato in Oceanian cultures. During the colonial era, Pacific coconuts were further introduced to Mexico from the Spanish East Indies via the Manila galleons.
In contrast to the Pacific coconuts, Indo-Atlantic coconuts were largely spread by Arab and Persian traders into the East African coast. Indo-Atlantic coconuts were also introduced into the Atlantic Ocean by Portuguese ships from their colonies in coastal India and Sri Lanka; first introduced to coastal West Africa, then onwards into the Caribbean and the east coast of Brazil. All of these introductions are within the last few centuries, relatively recent in comparison to the spread of Pacific coconuts.