Coconut Facts

What is a Coconut?

A coconut is the fruit of the coconut tree and has three layers. The outermost layer, usually smooth and green in color, is called the exocarp. The next layer is a husk with fibers called the mesocarp. The inner layer, called the endocarp, is hard and brown with three spots or “eyes” on the shell. It takes 11-12 months for a coconut to fully mature into an endocarp.

From a botanical perspective, the coconut is considered to be a drupe, which is a fruit with a fleshy outer part surrounding a hard covering (pit or stone) with a seed inside. Another example of a drupe is a peach.

Coconut meat is the edible white flesh lining the inside of the coconut endocarp. It is also called the kernel or copra. Coconut meat can be used to create coconut oil, coconut cream, coconut milk, and dried coconut. Of course, you can eat it fresh, too.

Research suggests that coconut meat provides nutritious fats and various other potential health benefits.

Coconut tree

The scientific name for the coconut tree is Cocos Nucifera. Cocos Nucifera is the only type of palm tree that produces coconuts. It likely originated in India and Southeast Asia, with the fruit carried on ocean currents or by explorers to other locations. Today, coconuts grow in warm climates across the globe, such as the Caribbean, the South Pacific, parts of Africa, South America, and the U.S. The tree can handle high winds and grows well in sandy or mangrove soils, which most other plants can not tolerate.

Botanically speaking, the coconut palm is not a tree since it has no bark, branches, or secondary growth. It is considered to be a woody perennial plant with its trunk as the stem.

Still, the coconut palm is often referred to as the “tree of life,” since every part of it can be used for something, whether you drink the juice of the coconut, eat the “meat,” make mats with the branches, or use the wood from the trunk to build a hut.

Is the coconut a nut?

Despite its name, the coconut is not really a nut since true nuts, like acorns, only release seeds when they decay or are digested by an animal. A coconut can grow from an intact shell, even one floated from a long distance.