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Observations on the Growth of a Coconut
| My first direct experience, that I can recall, was on Sam's and my honeymoon in Jamaica over 45 years ago. One of my fondest memories is one of a native scurrying up a palm tree to pull a coconut, which, when he got down, he opened and poured out a cup of delicious coconut milk. The consistency was more like that of water than of milk and, for me, the taste has yet to be replicated. |
Palm Trees on Hollywood Beach, Florida
Note Coconuts in on the inside of the lower branch on the right in the top photo
One summer, several years after our honeymoon, I became fascinated with coconuts when I discovered how they start out and grow. I was visiting my parents in Florida with our two, then-young, sons. In the past I had seen, and collected, many of the small aborted coconuts on the ground. That particular summer, I was delighted to discover, for the first time, the coconuts in their infant stages.
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Looking up into a tree, I discovered the clusters of seeds and one half of the open pod that contained them all. The coconuts looked like kernels of corn, growing on branches, within an elongated pod of two to three feet. As the pod (see red arrows below) opened, a closed tree-like stem inside started spreading out, exposing a series of branches holding numerous seeds, most of which shriveled up and dropped off.
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A stem I've had for 35 years. Note the little notches where other "kernels" were.
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Close-up of the seeds that started to grow and stopped. The shine is from the varnish with which I preserved them
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| Some grow a little larger than a kernel and most of them ultimately drop off. A few lucky ones grow into the large fruits encasing the coconuts with which you may be most familiar. It's the ones slightly larger than those shown just below which served as imagery in several of my water color paintings. |
Fantasy Landscapes from a series- See www.naturesplayground.com
| NTI - 005 -Aborted coconut seedlings, slightly larger than those still on the branch above are used in at least 3 spots here. Can you find them? |
NTI - 004 -Coconut in at least 2 spots here. Other objects include coral and shells and a piece of wood. Seed pod is also in NTI -005. |
THE END
A ripe coconut that migrated to the edge of the ocean in Delray Beach, Fl.
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Note this page evolved from Picture to Ponder - Volume 2 - Issue 23
See also ISSUE 24 for further Introduction
Photos and Description ©2006 Sheila Finkelstein
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