An ancient palm tree may be seen in the lovely islands of Seychelles, which are located in the Indian Ocean. This plant is well-known for producing the heaviest and biggest seed found anywhere on the planet.
Their odd look and weight of roughly 25 kilograms (55 pounds) make them a sight to see. The coco-de-mer, or double coconut, has seeds that may reach a length of half a meter. If you visit Praslin and Curieuse, you’ll find the Lodoicea maldivica palm, the only one of its kind anywhere else. Three nearby islands—St. Pierre, Chauve-Souris, and Ile Ronde (Round Island), which are all near Praslin, used to be the plant’s home. After becoming extinct for many years, they were just recently reintroduced into the area.
Legend says that the double coconut can be used to heal.
However, the healing capabilities remain an untested hypothesis. Even in the face of this, the palm tree continues to be a source of great fascination as an aesthetic marvel. This is due to the fact that a single nut may cost anywhere between £500 and £2,000!
There has been a lot of over-harvesting of the double coconut just like other plants. It is as a result of this that just two islands, Praslin and Curieuse, have more than 8,000 wild mature plants remaining. So the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies the species as Endangered because of the aforementioned factors.
As a result, it should come as no surprise that the seeds of this rare palm are now thriving in the wild. They are now being kept safe at botanical gardens around the world that have been able to grow them. Plant cages are often used to protect plants from poachers and keep them secure.
There are several palms that closely resemble the double coconut and yield some of the world’s biggest seeds, as well. They are much bigger than the majority of other palm seeds, albeit they are somewhat smaller than the seeds of the double coconut (up to 10cm long).
Perhaps studying this species will aid scientists in their quest to learn more about the evolutionary mechanisms that allow plants to produce large seeds.
