Coco-De-Mer
Lodoicea maldivica
(lo-DOY-see-uh) (mal-DY-vih-kuh)
Today’s tree is part of what makes the botanical world so special. I wished I had photographed it a bit better. I hadn’t seen it before and I could tell it was a very unusual tree. This one was planted at Flamingo Gardens in Davie, Florida. I came upon it after being frustrated I couldn’t get a shot of the big patch of Red Torch Ginger (Etlingera elatior) that was blooming. Now that is quite a flower and I found it fascinating. I didn’t get the shot of the Ginger and usually that doesn’t bother me. When I’m in a garden shooting pictures I have much better results if I just kind of have a leisurely look at the plants and flowers. If you see something nice try and record it and move on. I get better pictures that way and get to enjoy the garden to its fullest.
Anyway, this is a seldom-cultivated tree that has several unusual features and even this young specimen exacted attention. It produces the largest seeds and has the longest leaves of any plant. Since there are so many special things about this tree I have provided a couple of links for information. It truly is a wonderful example of nature’s anomalies.
Wikipedia Article
sea bean.com
arkive.org
That last one is a very interesting site that I plan on exploring a little more.
Check out all these synonyms: Double Coconut, Sea Coconut, Coco Fesse, Seychelles Nut, Sea Bean
This fan was huge!
2 comments:
My uncle who was on a research vessel doing Pacific water temperature sampling many years ago brought a coco de mer nut back from the Seychelles. We were all tittering at the blatantly erotic look of the nut. If I remember correctly it was about 16 to 20" in length husked and was almost black in color. Thanks for bringing up an old memory.
I am glad you liked it. The seeds can be worth up to $500 each. The ones that float in the ocean are not viable. The ones that can germinate sink in water.
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