Coconut Flooring

Coconut Blog

Some Interesting Coconut Facts

  • The coconut is alleged to have been named by the great Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama. He first encountered coconuts in India. The brown and hairy outside of the coconut reminded him and his sailors of a ghost or witch called 'Coco'. 'Coco' in Spanish and Portuguese means grinning face or grimace.
  • The origins of the coconut is under dispute. Some claim the coconut is native to South Asia (the Ganges Delta) and others insist the coconut originated in South America.
  • The oldest written mention of the coconut is in the Mahawamsa of Sri Lanka (circa First to Scond Century B.C)
  • Coconut is highly tolerant of salinity (salty water) and thrives in sandy soil. This is the reason coconuts palms are seen on beaches. Also the coconut seeds float and allow the coconut palm to spread from one island to another via marine currents.
  • Coconut plams love high humidity (70-80%) and cannot grow where there is even a hint of frost. Because of the high humidty necessary to establish coconut palms they are hardly ever seen in the Mediterranean area.
  • The top three coconut producer in the world are: the Philippines (19.5 miiilion tonnes), Indonesia (15.3 million tonnes) and India (10.9 million tonnes). These figures are for 2009
  • The flowers of the coconut palm are polygamomonoecious - meaning they contain both male and female flowers.
  • The Indian state of Kerala literally means 'the land of the coconuts'.
  • In Thailand and Malaysia pig-tailed macaques are still used to harvest the coconuts.

coconut flooring

 

  • The Philippine coconut industry is worth $800
  • The only States in America where the coconut is found are Hawaii and South Florida
  • The reason why ccocnut palms grow so tall is that they require a lot of sunshine. Even the smallest canopy will inhibit the growth of the coconut palm.
  • The fruit of the coconut is not a nut but a drupe. A drupe is a fruit with a fleshy part surrounding a pit that itself surrounds the seed inside. A peach is also a drupe.
  • Coconut is relatively high in minerals such as phosphorus, iron and zinc.

 

 

 

 

Pig Tailed Macaques are used by the Thai police as well as Thai coconut farmers.

 

Tags: coconut facts, pig tailed macaques, origin of name, origin of coconut, Kerala, land of coconuts, biggest coconut producers, oldest record of coconut