Cocos nucifera

Coconut palm (kokoye)

• Also called Coconut palm, Coconut
• Haitian Creole Kokoye, pye kokoye
• Tamil Thennai (தென்னை)
• Hindi Nariyal (नारियल)

Palm, up to 25-30 m

What it is

The coconut palm is a palm, not a true tree: it has no bark or wood rings and a single trunk that does not branch. Its trunk is grey and ringed with old leaf scars, topped by a crown of long feather-shaped leaves, 4 to 6 m. It flowers almost all year, and its large fruits take about a year to ripen. It grows best on sandy, salty tropical coasts and its wild origin is thought to be the Indo-Pacific.

What it's used for

• Its fruit gives coconut water, flesh, milk and oil.
• The husk gives coir fibre for rope and mats, and the leaves are used for thatch, baskets and brooms.
• It flowers through the year and its flowers are visited heavily by bees.
• Its trunk is used for posts and building in coastal villages.

Where we plant it

Our partners plant the mix of native species that suits each site and season, so a gift plants trees in the project rather than this one species. Cocos nucifera is one of the species planted there.

Read more about Cocos nucifera on en.wikipedia.org