From Plant Press Vol. 16 no. 2
The ninth botanical treasure comes from a palm tree that produces the largest seeds in the world.
Native to the Republic of Seychelles Islands, an island country off the east coast of Africa, this species of palm tree produces what are considered to be the largest seeds in the world. The entire palm fruit (a double coconut), containing a single seed, can weigh up to 50 pounds. This fruit is an excellent example of the remarkable diversity of size, structure, function, even color of the more than 400,000 species of plants and plant relatives.
The Coco de Mer, Lodoicea maldivica (J.F. Gmel.) Pers., is historically known from five islands, but it now occurs naturally only on two islands—Praslin and Curieuse. With a restricted range, slow growth rate, and limited dispersal ability, L. maldivica is listed as endangered in the IUCN Red List. Its main threats are illegal harvesting and poaching, human induced fires, and introduced pathogens.
Whoa. Awesome!
Posted by: Jazz | 05/18/2015 at 06:02 PM
Can one participate in a program of species propagation?
Posted by: Aprolook | 05/21/2015 at 06:23 AM
Cultivated palms of this species are grown on a number of other islands and are present in several botanic gardens. However, the species is not commercially available.
Posted by: Gary Krupnick | 05/21/2015 at 10:48 AM
Is there a source for the fruit weighing "up to 50 pounds"?
Posted by: Jono Miller | 04/29/2018 at 01:27 PM