Coconut palm facts for kids

Quick facts for kidsCoconut
	Coconut palm (Cocos nucifera)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Liliopsida
Order:	Arecales
Family:	Arecaceae
Genus:	'Cocos'
Binomial name
	Cocos nucifera; L.

The coconut palm is a palm tree in the family Arecaceae (palm family). It is a large palm, growing to 30 m tall. It has leaves that are 4–6 m long. The term coconut refers to the fruit of the coconut palm. The coconut tree is a monocot.

There are many coconut palms on the coasts of India and Bangladesh. People of this area use coconut milk in cooking. Women use coconut oil as oil for their hair. The coconut's shell is relatively hard, but can be broken. Because its shell is hard, it can be used as an ingredient to make craftworks.

Coconut milk is also used in many drinks. Coconut oil is often in food and soaps. People in Sri Lanka use coconut flowers for wedding celebrations. In the Maldives it is the National tree.

A coconut is a large nut. Coconuts grow in tropical countries. The flesh of a coconut is white and can be eaten raw or used in cooking. It is used in many of the foods we eat for flavour. It is native to tropical areas.

Seed dispersal

Coconut from Ivory Coast

Coconuts floats on water and can float to another island and germinate there. It has often been noted that coconuts can travel 110 days, or 3000 miles, by sea and still be able to germinate.

Images for kids

Coconut flowers
Dehusked coconut shells from Ivory Coast showing the face-like markings.
A cut coconut shell
The range of the natural habitat of the coconut palm tree delineated by the red line (based on information in Werth 1933, slightly modified by Niklas Jonsson)
Fossil Cocos zeylanica from the Miocene of New Zealand, 4 cm long.
Manual harvesting of coconuts
Coconut tree in Kannur Beach, India
Coconut germinating on Punalu'u Beach, Island of Hawaii
Fallen immature nuts, Thrissur, Kerala, India
Coconuts being sold on a street in India
Coconut plucking in Kerala, India
Green coconut fruit strands on the tree are featured on each Maldivian rufiyaa banknote
Coconut trees are among the most common sights throughout Kerala
Coconut trees line the beaches and corniches of Oman.
Coconut trees are used for landscaping along a coastal road in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia.
Green coconuts
Coconut water drink
An 1890 newspaper advertisement showing tin of dried coconut
Coconut milk (kakang gata) from 15 coconuts (Philippines)
Harvesting coconuts in the Philippines is done by workers who climb the trees using notches cut into the trunk.
From left to right: grated, fresh, mature coconut meat; seed interior; oil, rare two-eyed coconut shell; and more grated meat (Philippines)
Coconuts drying before being processed into copra in the Solomon Islands
A wall made from coconut husks
Extracting the fiber from the husk (Sri Lanka)
Toys from coconut leaves
Coconut buttons in Dongjiao Town, Hainan, China
The base of an old coconut palm
Coconut Palace, Manila, Philippines, built entirely out of coconut and local materials
Making a rug from coconut fiber
King Coconut in Sri Lanka