By Nneka Nwogwugwu
Seychelles has discovered a specie of coconut that produces heaviest and largest seeds in the world called coco de mer.
The coco de mer, also known as the sea coconut or double coconut, is endemic to the islands and produces the largest and heaviest seeds in the world, according to the Guardian UK.
“It is a much-loved cultural and botanical icon of the Seychelles,” says Katy Beaver, a plant expert on the islands who has been studying the rare palm for many years.
The suggestive shape of the seed has also earned it plenty of attention. Shrouded in folklore and legends, the palm is found growing naturally on only two of Seychelles’ 115 islands – Praslin, the second largest island in the country after Mahé, and nearby Curieuse.
With only about 8,000 mature trees in existence today, the plant is named as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list.
The coco de mer palm is dioecious – it has separate male and female plants that can take up to 50 years to reach sexual maturity, depending on environmental conditions and its extremely slow growth rate has contributed to its endangered status.
But conservationists have turned to the islanders to help secure the tree’s future under a scheme launched last summer.
Residents were invited to apply for permission to plant up to five coco de mer seeds each on their property.
The chief executive of the non-profit organisation Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF), Dr Frauke Fleischer-Dogley, launched the scheme in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Climate Change and Environment (MACCE).
Lindsay Chong Seng, head of the Seychelles’ Plant Conservation Action group, adds: “This programme will widen the coco de mer population base, which is useful from the biodiversity point of view.
“It will help keep the coco de mer as a cultural highlight without destroying its habitat. In the long run, it could reduce the pressure on the last remaining wild coco de mer forests on Praslin.”
