Coco-de-Mer or Double Coconut or Coco Fesse or Seychelles nutLodoicea maldivica

The Coco-de-Mer palm produces the largest seed in the world and is endemic to only two of the 115 Seychelles Islands. The plants have separate sexes and thus there are male trees and female trees. These large seeds may weigh up to 50 pounds and have historically been found floating in the Indian Ocean, being known to explorers long before the parent plants were discovered. They were originally named only from floating seeds; erroneously thought to have originated in the Maldives Islands, they were assigned the scientific name "maldivica".

In days of old it was rarely found washed ashore on the coast of India and viewed as the female counterpart to the shankara stones on Hindu alters. It was also used as a medicine and as an aphrodisiac.Today, the seed is so valuable and coveted by so many that it's chances of being allowed to fall into water and drift away have to be extremely small!

Front sideBacksidePhotos of a specimen (with outer husk removed) purchased from the Seychelles Islands.Note the government's serialized tag on the seed, as their export is strictly controlled.

From Wikipedia:Legend has it that sailors who first saw the nut floating in the sea imagined that it resembled a woman’s disembodied buttocks. This association is reflected in one of the plant’s archaic botanical names, Lodoiceacallipyge Comm. ex J. St.-Hil., in which callipyge is from Greek words meaning ‘beautiful rump’. Other botanical names used in the past include LodoiceasechellarumLabill. and Lodoiceasonneratii.

The Male and Female Coco de MerThis picture shows both a seed, or nut, from the female tree and a catkin from the male tree, resting on a palm leaf.

Male and Female Trees of the Coco de Mer in Praslin

The following photos are of a Coco de Mer which has been intricately and exquisitely carved.Presently belonging to Anthony Rickard, it was purchased by his late Father in Andover, Hampshire, England in the 1960s.It still has its label reading "double coconut 40/-" i.e. £2.00. Back then £2 would have bought about £60 of today's value.Anthony says that "The figures seem to alternate between some sort of bishop - at least the hat looks like a mitre - and a merman!"

Trinity16.8.09