Cocos nucifera L.

തെങ്ങ്

Family : Arecaceae

Synonym : Calappa nucifera (L.) Kuntze.

Common Names : Thengu, Shubaga, Coconut tree

Flowering Period : Throughout the year

Distribution : Cultivated throughout the tropics

Habitat : Cultivated

Uses : Nut edible, oil yielding, firewood, house making, remedy for urinary disorders.

Key Characters :

Coconut trees are erect trees with annular petiolar scars.  Leaves pinnatisect, 4-6 m long.  Spadices interfoliar, panicled.  Spathe oblong, woody.  Flowers monoecious.  Male flowers: often paired.  Sepals ovate.  Petals ovate, woody, yellowish-brown.  Stamens 6; pistillode short, 3-fid.  Female flowers, basal, globose.  Perianth-lobes 6; woody; outer lobes broadly obovate.  Ovary 3-celled; ovule 1 per cell; style short.  Drupe ovoid or globose, trigonous; pericarp fibrous; endocarp stony.  Seed coherent with the endocarp.