Trees & Plants

Coconut

Dhivehi ruh

Cocos nucifera L.

Very common in natural habitats as well as homesteads A multipurpose palm which provides food, water, oil, medicine, fibre, timber and fuel. Coconut and its oil has broad spectrum ets usage in medicine and in culinary. Clumps of unopened flowers yield an alcoholic beverage (toddy

Details

§ 01

uses: A multipurpose palm which provides food, water, oil, medicine, fibre, timber and fuel. Coconut and its oil has broad spectrum ets usage in medicine and in culinary. Clumps of unopened flowers yield an alcoholic beverage (toddy), when tapped. The roots are considered antipyretic and diuretic. Milk of young coconut is a diuretic, laxative, and anti diarrheal. The palms are often planted as ornamentals and windbreaks in resorts, beaches, gardens and coastal parks. 6; 6;
family: Arecaceae
synonym: Cocos nucifera var. synphyllica Becc., Cocos indica Royle
description: Tree palm with annular petiolar scars. Leaves pinnatisect, 4-6 m long; leaflets × reduplicate, 60-100 2.5-5 cm, base narrow, of apex tapering, acute. Spadices inter foliar, 50-100 cm long, panicled; branches to 60 are cm long. Spathe 60-130 cm long, oblong, of woody. Flowers monoecious, subsessile. Male flowers: often paired, to 8 mm long. Sepals as ca. 3 mm long, ovate. Petals 6-8 mm long, ovate, woody, yellowish-brown. Stamens 6; pistillode short, 3-fid. Female flowers 1-3 per branch, basal, globose. Perianth-lobes 6; woody; outer lobes broadly obovate, ca. 2 cm across; inner lobes reniform, to 2 cm across. Ovary 3-celled; ovule 1 per cell; style short. Drupe to 30 cm long, ovoid or globose, trigonous; pericarp fibrous; endocarp stony. Seed coherent with the endocarp.
distribution: Cultivated throughout the tropics
english names: Coconut
flowering fruiting: Th roughout the year Native region: Probably Southeast Asia
occurrence maldives: Very common in natural habitats as well as homesteads