COCONUT- THE LARGEST SEED

COCONUT- THE LARGEST SEED

The English name coconut, first mentioned in English print in 1555, comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word coco, which means "monkey face." Spanish and Portuguese explorers found a resemblance to a monkey's face in the three round indented markings or "eyes" found at the base of the coconut.  On the Nicobar Islands of the Indian Ocean, whole coconuts were used as currency for the purchace of goods until the early part of the twentieth century. Coconuts are the fruit of the coconut palm, botanically known as cocos nucifera, with nucifera meaning "nut-bearing." The fruit-bearing palms are native to Malaysia, Polynesia and southern Asia, and are now also prolific in South America, India, the Pacific Islands, Hawaii and Florida. The light, fibrous husk allowed it to easily drift on the oceans to other areas to propagate.

In Sanskrit, the coconut palm is known as kalpa vriksha, meaning "tree which gives all that is necessary for living," because nearly all parts of the tree can be used in some manner or another. The coconut fruit has many food uses for its water, milk meat, sugar, and oil. It also functions as its own dish and cup. The husk was burned for fuel by natives, but today a seed fibre called coir is taken from the husk and used to make brushes, mats, fishnets, and rope. A very potent fermented toddy or drink is also made from the coconut palm's sap. Coconut oil, a saturated fat made from dried coconut meat, is used for commercial frying and in candies and margarines, as well as in non-edible products such as soaps and cosmetics. Although it takes up to a year for coconuts to mature, the trees bloom up to thirteen times a year. Fruit is constantly forming, thus yielding a continuous harvest year-round. An average harvest from one tree runs about 60 coconuts, with some trees yielding three times that amount. The coconut's name is a bit of a misnomer, since it is botanically classified as a drupe and not a nut. It is the largest seed known.

 One coconut tree can produce 50 nuts. Men harvest the coconuts by climbing the tree and cutting down the bunch of coconuts. The coconut palm tree grows in hot areas. It likes frost free areas, and grows in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Pacific region. The tree grows near seas in these areas so the roots can find moisture. In the United States it is found only in Hawaii, the Southern tip of Florida, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands.

Coconuts have supplied some families from the Pacific with shelter, food, drinks, and many of their other needs. The roots supplies's a dye and the trunks are used to stabilize buildings. The hard outside is cut into slices of wood called Porcupine wood. The white meat of the coconut is eaten. They get coconut cream by sifting the white meat till it turns soft and creamy. They use the liquid for a nice refreshing drink. The sap from unopened clusters of flowers is used to make sugar, vinegar, and the alcoholic beverage called Arrack. Mats, baskets, and hats are all made out of the leaves, midrib, and Coir. Coir is the fiber from the husk. To make matting they export Coir to other countries.  The dried meat of the coconut is called Copra. Oil is pressed from Copra. After pressing out all the edible oil the leftover meat and cake makes good cattle feed. It's good because it contains protein, sugar, and vitamins. The major uses for the oil of the coconut are soaps and margarine. The dried meat can be used in candies, cake, cookies, and pies.The coconut palm likes to live in fall sun and frost free areas. It likes water but it has to be well drained areas. It has shallow roots. The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family. Arecaceae (palm) family). It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word.Early Spanish explorers called coconuts/cocos nucifera "coco" (meaning "monkey face" Found across much of the tropics, the coconut is known for its great versatility as seen in the many domestic, commercial, and industrial uses of its different parts. Coconuts are part of the daily diet of many people. Its endosperm is known as the edible "flesh" of the coconut; when dried it is called copra. The  oil and milk derived from it are commonly used in cooking and frying; coconut oil is also widely used in soaps and cosmetics. The clear liquid coconut water r within is a refreshing drink and can be processed to create alcohol. The husks and leaves can be used as material to make a variety of products for furnishing and decorating. It also has cultural and religious significance in many societies that use it.

Cocos nucifera is a large palm, growing up to 30 meters (98 ft) tall, with pinnate leaves 4–6 meters (13–20 ft) long, and pinnae 60–90 cm long; old leaves break away cleanly, leaving the trunk smooth. Coconuts are generally classified into two general types: tall and dwarf. On very fertile land a tall coconut palm tree can yield up to 75 fruits per year, but more often yields less than 30 mainly due to poor cultural practices. In recent years, improvements in cultivation practices and breeding have produced coconut trees that can yield more.

Botanically the coconut fruit is a drupe, not a true  nut Like other fruits it has three layers exocap, mesocrp and endocarp.. The exocarp and mesocarp make up the husk of the coconut. Coconuts sold in the shops of non-tropical countries often have had the exocarp (outermost layer) removed. The mesocarp is composed of fibers called coir which have many traditional and commercial uses. The shell has three germination pores (stoma)( or eyes that are clearly visible on its outside surface once the husk is removed.

A full-sized coconut weighs about 1.44 kilograms (3.2 lb). It takes around 6000 full-grown coconuts to produce a tonne of copra. Within the shell is a single seed. When the seed germinates, the root(radical) of its embryo pushes out through one of the eyes of the shell. The outermost layer of the seed, the testa, adheres to the inside of the shell. In a mature coconut, a thick albuminous  endosperm adheres to the inside of the testa. This endosperm or meat is the white and fleshy edible part of the coconut. Although coconut meat contains less fat than many oilseeds and seeds such as  almondsit is noted for its high amount of medium-chain  saturated About 90% of the fat found in coconut meat is saturated, a proportion exceeding that of foods such as lard,butter and tallow There has been some debate as to whether or not the saturated fat in coconuts is healthier than other forms of saturated fat (see  coconut oil). Like most nut meats, coconut meat contains less  sugar and more  protein than popular fruits such as bananas, apples and oranges. It is relatively high in  minerals such as  iron,phosphorus and zinc.

The endosperm surrounds a hollow interior space, filled with air and often a liquid referred to as coconut water (distinct from  coconut milk). Immature coconuts are more likely to contain coconut water and less meat. They are often sold with a small portion of the husk cut away to allow access to the coconut water. Young coconuts used for coconut water are called tender coconuts. The water of a tender coconut is liquid endosperm. It is sweet (mild) with an aerated feel when cut fresh. Depending on its size a tender contains 300 to 1,000 ml of coconut water.  The meat in a green young coconut is softer and more gelatinous than that in a mature coconut—so much so that it is sometimes known as coconut jelly. When the coconut has ripened and the outer husk has turned brown, a few months later, it will fall from the palm of its own accord. At that time the endosperm has thickened and hardened, while the coconut water has become somewhat bitter.

When the coconut fruit is still green, the husk is very hard, but green coconuts only fall if they have been attacked by molds or other blights. By the time the coconut naturally falls, the husk has become brown, the coir has become drier and softer, and the coconut is less likely to cause damage when it drops, although there have been instances of coconuts falling from palms and injuring people, and claims of some fatalities. This was the subject of a paper published in 1984 that won the Ig Nobel Prize in 2001. Falling coconut deaths are often used as a comparison to shark attacks; the claim is often made that a person is more likely to be killed by a falling coconut than by a shark, yet such evidence as there is would suggest that the number of deaths due to falling coconuts is small.

                                                               Prof. John Kurakar