A tree crop, Cocos nucifera, the coconut palm, whose domestication history is debated: genetic evidence points to two largely separate centers of cultivation, one in the Pacific basin and Southeast Asia and another around the Indian Ocean rim and South Asia, and the species also dispersed naturally across tropical shorelines by floating in seawater before humans spread it further through cultivation. Nearly every part of the coconut palm is used: the fruit for its water, flesh and oil, the husk fiber (coir) for rope and matting, the trunk for timber, and the leaves for thatch, making it one of the most economically versatile tree crops of the tropics. Indonesia, the Philippines and India are the largest modern producers.
Facts
Scientific Name Domestication RegionSoutheast Asia (Pacific coconuts, by Austronesians) 3 Domesticated When (Circa)c. 3000 to 1500 BCE (Pacific coconuts) 3 Era
Era (category) In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Coconut (Wikipedia)
- lead: the large hard fruit of the coconut palm tree
- lead: inner flesh forms a regular part of the diets of many people
- lead: the coconut tree provides food, fuel, cosmetics, folk medicine
- lead: hard shells, fibrous husks and leaves used to make products for furnishing
- lead: trees can grow up to 30 meters tall and yield fruit annually
- lead: domesticated by Austronesian peoples in Island Southeast Asia, spread during the Neolithic
View the Source2. Coconut (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHistory sectionQuote, History section
Linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence all points to domestication of Pacific coconuts by Austronesians in Southeast Asia during the Austronesian expansion (c. 3000 to 1500 BCE).
3. Coconut, Wikipedia
Taxonomy
The coconut (Cocos nucifera) is a member of the palm family
Human dispersal
Linguistic, archaeological, and genetic evidence all points to domestication of Pacific coconuts by Austronesians in Southeast Asia during the Austronesian expansion (c. 3000 to 1500 BCE).
lead description or Wikipedia lead (crop-class)
A tree crop, Cocos nucifera, the coconut palm, whose domestication history is debated: genetic evidence points to two largely separate centers of cultivation, one in the Pacific basin and Southeast Asia and another around the Indian Ocean rim and South Asia, and the species also dispersed naturally across tropical shorelines by floating in seawater before humans spread it further through cultivation.
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