Nut of the coco-de-mer palm (Lodoicea maldivica)
The coco-de-mer is endemic to the Seychelles -- not to the Maldives, despite the scientific name -- growing naturally on Praslin Island and neighbouring islands and nowhere else in the world. Up to 50 cm in diameter and weighing up to 30 kg, this is easily the largest seed of any plant. Given its erotic resemblance to the human female form (the rear resembles human buttocks too), all sorts of legends have arisen in connection with it, chiefly that it possesses magical properties.
These nuts were occasionally washed ashore in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. This is the natural method of dispersal and germination for coconuts, but not so for the coco-de-mer, which has male and female plants. Male palms have catkins which are also curiously erotic (phallic) in appearance. Thus the coco-de-mer cannot grow naturally outside the Seychelles.
Since the Seychelles were unknown to humans until the 18th century, the origin of the nuts was the subject of much speculation. It was theorised that the palms grew on the seabed -- hence the French name meaning coconut of the sea -- because Malay sailors had observed nuts "falling upwards" to the surface of the sea. This observation was in fact accurate, because of course the nuts are much too heavy to float and sink to the seabed, until they decay and acquire gases that enable them to float. Only then can they be deposited on foreign shores. Such washed-up nuts had great monetary value until the French explorer Duchemin discovered the coco-de-mer palm on Praslin Island in 1769 and took a cargo of nuts to the outside world. Thereafter, the bottom fell out of the market. From a slide.
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All images are the property of the photographer and may not be reproduced, copied, downloaded, transmitted or used in any way without the written permission of the photographer, who can be contacted by registering with flickr and using flickrmail.
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Nut of the coco-de-mer palm (Lodoicea maldivica)
The coco-de-mer is endemic to the Seychelles -- not to the Maldives, despite the scientific name -- growing naturally on Praslin Island and neighbouring islands and nowhere else in the world. Up to 50 cm in diameter and weighing up to 30 kg, this is easily the largest seed of any plant. Given its erotic resemblance to the human female form (the rear resembles human buttocks too), all sorts of legends have arisen in connection with it, chiefly that it possesses magical properties.
These nuts were occasionally washed ashore in countries bordering the Indian Ocean. This is the natural method of dispersal and germination for coconuts, but not so for the coco-de-mer, which has male and female plants. Male palms have catkins which are also curiously erotic (phallic) in appearance. Thus the coco-de-mer cannot grow naturally outside the Seychelles.
Since the Seychelles were unknown to humans until the 18th century, the origin of the nuts was the subject of much speculation. It was theorised that the palms grew on the seabed -- hence the French name meaning coconut of the sea -- because Malay sailors had observed nuts "falling upwards" to the surface of the sea. This observation was in fact accurate, because of course the nuts are much too heavy to float and sink to the seabed, until they decay and acquire gases that enable them to float. Only then can they be deposited on foreign shores. Such washed-up nuts had great monetary value until the French explorer Duchemin discovered the coco-de-mer palm on Praslin Island in 1769 and took a cargo of nuts to the outside world. Thereafter, the bottom fell out of the market. From a slide.
120624 001
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All images are the property of the photographer and may not be reproduced, copied, downloaded, transmitted or used in any way without the written permission of the photographer, who can be contacted by registering with flickr and using flickrmail.
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