This familiar tropical palm is the Coconut Palm, Cocos nucifera. It belongs to the palm family, Arecaceae, and is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. Its original native range is thought to extend from parts of Southeast Asia and Malesia into the southwestern Pacific, but people have carried and cultivated it so widely that it is now found throughout the tropical world.

The palm develops a single, usually curved or leaning trunk topped by a crown of long, feather-shaped leaves. Each frond is made up of many narrow leaflets arranged along a central stalk, and the entire leaf may be 15 feet or more in length.

Coconut Palms do not produce branches in the way ordinary trees do. All new growth comes from a single growing point at the top of the trunk. If that growing point is badly damaged, the palm cannot replace it.

The flowers are produced in large branching clusters beneath the crown. Male and female flowers occur on the same palm. The smaller male flowers usually open first, while the larger female flowers may later develop into coconuts after pollination.

Botanically, the coconut is not a true nut. It is a drupe, the same general type of fruit as a peach or mango. Its outer skin may be green, yellow or bronze, depending on the variety and stage of maturity. Beneath that is a thick fibrous husk called coir, followed by the hard inner shell.

Inside the shell are the familiar white coconut flesh and coconut water. The flesh is the solid food-storage tissue of the seed, while the water is the liquid form of that same tissue during an earlier stage of development. As the coconut matures, the amount of water decreases and the layer of white flesh becomes thicker.

The fruit is extremely well adapted for dispersal by sea. Its fibrous husk helps it float, while the hard shell protects the seed from saltwater. A coconut can travel considerable distances on ocean currents and may still germinate after washing ashore.

Few plants have been as useful to people. Coconut water and flesh are consumed as food, while the dried flesh, called copra, is pressed to produce coconut oil. The fibrous husk is used for rope, brushes, mats and growing media, and the leaves, shells and wood have all been used for roofing, fuel, utensils and construction.

The Coconut Palm is especially well adapted to warm coastal environments. It tolerates salt spray, sandy soil and strong sunlight, although it grows best where there is reliable warmth and moisture.

This palm has become such a familiar symbol of the tropics that it is easy to overlook how remarkable it is. In one fruit, it carries food, water, fiber and a seed protected well enough to cross an ocean and begin a new life on another shore.