Rare Scientific Feat: Artificial Pollination of Only Double Coconut Tree in India

Rare Scientific Feat: Artificial Pollination of Only Double Coconut Tree in India

• The double coconut tree in India bears the largest seed known to science. It is the only one of its kind in the nation

• Located at Indian Botanical Garden in Howrah District, WB, this tree species was recently artificially pollinated

About the Double Coconut Tree

• This is one of the rare and globally threatened palm species

• Named Lodoicea maddivica, it is situated in the botanical garden since 1894

• Artificial pollination of this endangered species is the result of decades long research by Botanical Survey of India/BSI scientists

• The tree took over 100 years to mature and with the aid of pollen from another tree in Thailand, the pollination process was successfully completed

• Double coconut tree not only bears the largest seed known to science, it is also the longest surviving palm which can live for close to 1,000 years

• The double coconut tree can only be found in 2 of 115 Seychelles Islands and it is also referred to as Coco de Mer or coconut of the sea

Facts and Stats

• The palm also has the largest leaf among palms and one leaf can provide thatch for a small hut

• BSI has been working on artificial pollination since 2006

• The double coconut palm tree has seeds weighing 25 kgs

• Legend bestows the seed with the power to bring good fortune to its owners.

• Seed is used to make kamandals or drinking vessels and those who drink from it are believed to be protected from poisoning