ABSTRACT
The coco de mer is a palm tree with separate male and female plants, the males reaching a maximum height of 30 m (100 ft.), while females grow no taller than 25 m (82 ft.). The trees have a crown of heavy fan-shaped leaves, with leaf blades often over 6 m (20 ft.) long and 3.7 m (12 ft.) wide (the leaves of young plants are larger, and can reach a length of 14 m or more than 45 ft.). Trunks do not develop until the plants are about 15 years of age. The plants are very slow growing, and female trees do not bear fruit until they are at least 40 years old. A female tree may produce 25 to 35 fruits at one time, in various stages of development. The seeds are the largest of all plants. The seeds are enclosed in a hard shell resembling a pair of coconuts joined in the middle (or, in the words of the prestigious New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening, “the rear of a large woman”). One to three seeds may be present in each fruit. The fruits take 6 or 7 years to mature and can weigh up to 32 kg (70 lb), although they typically weigh about 20 kg (44 lb.) when fresh. By comparison, record-size coconuts only weigh about 3 kg (6½ lb.). The fruits sometimes exceed 50 cm (20 in.) in length and 1 m (about a yard) in circumference. The male trees develop an impressive, long, thick §owering stalk that may reach 2 m (6½ ft.) in length.
