Precious coconuts

With the exception of another Palm whose fruit weighs twenty to twenty-five pounds, a coconut is the largest seed in creation and, as such, is of great scientific interest.

From a human standpoint, it is a royal gift from Providence to tropical shores.

A cartload of coconuts, 1940.

Coconut palms are grown for export, but mainly perhaps to supply the people of this land with that refreshing, highly diuretic beverage: coconut water ("agua de coco").

Thirsty? Quick, someone will lop off the end of a coconut for you.

UdeM: E01182FP01085

Photo : Michel Lambert, 2007

A nut falls or drifts somewhere and another coconut palm sprouts!

Its method of propagation is eminently suited to shoreline conditions.

An adult Coconut Palm easily produces three hundred nuts a year.

The fruit ? a coconut ? consists of an inedible, thick, fibrous husk surrounding a very hard, brown shell containing the seed, the edible white part.

Cocotier

This scene filmed in 2007 is very similar to one observed by Marie-Victorin in 1939: [Our guide]

scampered up to the crowns with his machete. One by one, the nuts fell, like heavy stones. The nut is whacked a few times with the machete in just the right spot, and then quickly upturned over a glass.

Film: Les Productions Chelgne

Photo: Pascale Maynard, JBM

Under the Cuban Sun with Marie-Victorin [Jardin botanique de Montréal]