Coco de mer - a piquant palm tree that makes you blush

A unique variety of palm grows on the islands of Praslin and Curieuse in the Seychelles. The coco de mer, or sea palm (Lodoicea maldivica), has a slender trunk that reaches 30 meters in height. Leaves grow densely at the top, and the crown can be up to five meters in radius. Mature trees often have fringed leaves at the tips. Dry edges of leaves hang under the crown of a palm tree.

An ordinary palm tree, you say. But the most interesting thing about coco de mer is its huge seeds. These are the largest and heaviest seeds in the entire plant world. And this is also not the most unusual thing. The very shape of these seeds, which has made the palm tree famous throughout the world, is unusual: it is very reminiscent of a woman’s buttocks. Coco de mer used to have another scientific name - Lodoicea callipyge, where callipyge in Greek means "beautiful buttocks".

More legends and mysteries surround the coco de mer than any other tree in the world. Centuries ago, before the Seychelles were discovered and settled, coco de mer nuts washed up on distant shores such as the Maldives, where such palms were unknown. There they were collected from the beaches and sold to other countries.

Due to its unusual shape and size, this nut was considered an item with powerful aphrodisiac properties. Because it was sold in the Maldives, it was called the Maldivian coconut. This fact is reflected in the current scientific name of coco de mer - Lodoicea maldivica.

This is what the inflorescence of a male coco de mer plant looks like.

If the coco de mer fruit falls into the sea, due to its weight and density, it sinks to the bottom. When a coconut sits at the bottom for enough time, its shell becomes eroded and falls off. The inside of the nut decomposes, and the gases that are formed during decomposition cause the hollow nut to float to the surface of the water.

Many sailors saw these nuts floating from the bottom and thought that they grew on underwater trees in the forest at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. This belief gave the nut its name - coco de mer, which in French means “sea coconut”.

In ancient times, coco de mer nuts were very valuable, and all nuts found in the ocean and on the beaches automatically became the property of the king, who sold them at a very high price or gave them as honorary and expensive gifts. Middle Eastern princes and even Holy Roman Emperor Rudolf II were willing to pay a fortune for these rare treasures.

Around the 18th century, it was discovered that this nut grows in the Seychelles. When researchers landed in the homeland of this unusual palm tree, they discovered another surprise. Unlike the common coconut tree, the coco de mer has male and female trees. A nut shaped like a woman's buttocks produces a female tree, and a male tree has inflorescences that closely resemble the male reproductive organ.

This similarity gave rise to a legend: on dark, stormy nights, when no one is looking, trees move their roots to merge with each other in ecstasy. According to legend, anyone who sees trees making love will either die or go blind. To this day, scientists do not fully understand how coco de mer pollination occurs, and this adds even more mystery to the sea palm.

When British Army Major General Charles George Gordon landed on Praslin in 1881, he was convinced he had found the biblical Garden of Eden. A devout British believer, seeing the shape of the coco de mer fruit, became convinced that this was the same forbidden fruit that Eve offered to Adam.

The amazing coco de mer plant today holds five botanical records. Firstly, it is the world's largest fruit growing in the wild: its weight reaches 42 kg. Secondly, the seeds of this palm tree weigh up to 17.6 kg and are also considered the heaviest seeds in the world. Thirdly, coco de mer has the longest cotyledon known to science, which reaches four meters. Fourthly, female flowers are the largest among palm trees. In addition, this plant is the most efficient at obtaining nutrients from its own dead leaves.