Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
Get nutty!
|
Every part of the coconut palm is useful
|
Coconut palm or Cocos Nucifera belongs to the family Arecaceae. A tall, stately coastal palm 20 meters in height with stout stem surrounded by a crown of three to four metre long arching, handsome, pinnate, feather like leaves. It is the most important palm of the tropics, with practically every requisite including food, oil, alcohol, spirit, fibre, timber thatch and utensils. The name was derived from the Portuguese `coco' or monkey, alluding to the nut being like monkey's head. The trunk is marked in rings each year by the scars of fallen leaves. The flowers are united in an inflorescence with stout thick spadix that are one metre long, divided into drooping spikes, bearing at their base female flowers are male flowers with thick stamens. Fruit is three-cornered 25-30 cm long, with thick and fibrous pericarp, endocarp, long with three basal pores, cavity filled with sweet water. Fruit ripens after nine to 10 months.
Cocos is believed to be of Indo-Malayan origin. Widespread and cultivated for centuries throughout the coastal areas, the palm requires a warm, moist deep loamy soil. Germination is after three months and flowering takes place after seven to eight years. Coconut kernel yields a valuable fatty oil used in cooking, hair oils, lighting, soap making and in lubricants. Coconut oil is extracted from dried copra.
The husk (pericarp) when soaked in water for about three weeks yields coir-fibre, which is made into mats, brushes, matting and strong coarse ropes. Brooms are made from the leaves. Coconut palm is one of nature's greatest gifts to mankind. Practically all parts of the plant are useful. So it is called Kalpa vrisksha or Kalapataro (wish tree).
CHITRA RADHAKRISHNAN
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Metro Plus
Bangalore
Chennai
Coimbatore
Delhi
Hyderabad
Kochi
|
