When was coconut discovered

Most coconuts are talls, but there are also dwarfs that are only several feet tall when they begin reproducing. The dwarfs account for only 5 percent of coconuts. Dwarf trees with niu vai fruits were thought to be the domesticated form. The coconut in the grocery store is like a cherry pit without the fleshy part. Collecting coconut DNA The project got started when Gunn, who had long been interested in palm evolution, and who was then at the Missouri Botanical Garden, contacted Olsen, who had the laboratory facilities needed to study palm DNA.

On the way to sample new leaf tissue from the crown a of coconut tree, an intrepid climber with a knife in his teeth grins at Bee Gunn. Microsatellites are regions of stuttering DNA where the same few nucleotide units are repeated many times. The new collections were combined with a vast dataset that had been established by CIRAD, a French agricultural research center, using the same genetic markers. Two origins of cultivation The most striking finding of the new DNA analysis is that the Pacific and Indian Ocean coconuts are quite distinct genetically.

In the Pacific, coconuts likely were first cultivated on islands in Southeast Asia, meaning the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and perhaps the continent as well. In the Indian Ocean, the likely center of cultivation was the southern periphery of India, including Sri Lanka, the Maldives and the Laccadives.

The definitive domestication traits —the dwarf habit, self-pollination and niu vai fruits — arose only in the Pacific, however, and then only in a small subset of Pacific coconuts, which is why Olsen speaks of origins of cultivation rather than of domestication. Did it float or was it carried? The coconuts there are a genetic mixture of the Indian Ocean type and the Pacific type. Olsen and his colleagues believe the Pacific coconuts were introduced to the Indian Ocean a couple of thousand years ago by ancient Austronesians establishing trade routes connecting Southeast Asia to Madagascar and coastal east Africa.

Olsen points out that no genetic admixture is found in the more northerly Seychelles, which fall outside the trade route. He adds that a recent study of rice varieties found in Madagascar shows there is a similar mixing of the japonica and indica rice varieties from Southeast Asia and India. The green fronds of the trees rustle in the ocean breeze, offering a shady retreat from the equatorial heat. To the modern dive traveler, coconut palms signify warm seas and sunny beaches.

The origin of the coconut palm Cocos nucifera is the subject of an ongoing debate. The current theory is that it is native to Malesia, a biogeographical region roughly defined as an area that includes Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Australia, New Guinea, and several Pacific island groups.

It is difficult to know when humans began cultivating the coconut palm, but there is evidence to suggest that 3, years ago coconuts were being used in India.

Today, coconut palms grow throughout the tropics in a band around the world 25 degrees north and 25 degrees south of the equator. Ideal growing conditions for coconut palms include free-draining aerated soil often found on sandy beaches, a supply of fresh groundwater, a humid atmosphere, and temperatures between 80 and 86 degrees Fahrenheit 27 and 30 degrees Celsius. Both humans and marine currents are responsible for distributing the coconut palm around the world.

Portable and slow to rot, coconuts were carried in the ships of explorers and the canoes of the nomadic Polynesians. Saltwater-resistant and also able to float, coconuts can ride marine currents long distances and can germinate even after three months bobbing at sea.

There are two varieties of coconut palm: tall or dwarf. The tall variety is commonly planted for commercial purposes. The tree is slow to mature, bearing coconuts in six to 10 years. A mature tree has a trunk about 18 inches 46 cm in diameter and can obtain a height of feet 30 m. The top of the tree is adorned with 20 or so large downward curving leaves, called fronds, each about feet The dwarf variety is about a third the size, has a shorter life span and is difficult to grow, but valued because it produces coconuts earlier than the tall tree.

While a coconut is commonly thought to be a nut, it is actually the fruit of the tree. Peaches, plums and cherries are other examples of drupes. Coconuts resemble warped footballs and grow in clusters of , with 10 or 12 clusters visible on a tree at one time. One coconut takes a full year to mature from a flower into a ripe fruit. During this time the coconut passes through four development stages, each with different food properties:.

Stage 1. When the coconut is immature, or green, the liquid within the inner shell is sweet and refreshing, and can yield up to a liter of juice. During World War II, the liquid of the green coconut was used as a substitute for a medical saline drip, saving the lives of many soldiers stationed in the tropical Pacific. Stage 2. Stage 3. The coconut continues to ripen as it remains on the tree.

The eco-friendly fuel is not only cheaper but also releases a minimal amount of CO2. Plus, coconut-based diesel oil is also said to smell much better than the traditional variety. Embedded at the top of this page is a Deutsche Welle video by Kerstin Schweizer showcasing a project that is an example of using plant waste to protect the climate. Nature provides us with the a variety of natural resources to spur innovation, and all right at our doorstep: sugar cane remnants are saved from the trash heap and turned into eco-friendly plastic, bamboo becomes an ideal building material because it re-grows faster than any tree, and coconut is a multi-purpose star, used for everything from medicine to green fuel.

All it takes is a little imagination and inspiration. Across the world, people are protecting the environment by using resources in a smart and eco-friendly way. In Cambodia, traditional coal is being replaced by eco-friendly briquettes made from coconut shells.

In the last 40 years, forest cover has shrunk from 70 percent to just 3 percent. Coconut shells can be used as a material to produce briquettes, and no trees have to be felled to access them, either. Coconut shell briquettes are still in the early phase of development, and the product remains largely unknown. They introduce the coconut shell briquettes to homes and businesses, like restaurants. And the interest in their product is high — the use of briquettes has quintupled since they started.

Almost every part of the coconut palm finds use in. The stems and leaves can be turned into building materials for constructing homes, ships and furniture.