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palm. And, unlike the more familiar fruit of the coconut tree, the coco de mer fruit is not adapted to disperse naturally by floating on the ocean water. When a coco de mer fruit falls into the sea, it cannot float because of its high density; instead it sinks to the bottom. However, after the fruit
319:
shapes, some people believed that the trees made passionate love on stormy nights. According to the legend, male trees uproot themselves, and approach female trees. Apparently the love-making trees are rather shy, and the legend has it that whoever sees the trees mating will die or go blind. The
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has been on the sea bed for a considerable period of time, the husk drops off, the internal parts of the nut decay, and the gases that form inside the nut cause the bare nut to rise up to the surface. At that time the nut can float, but is no longer
154:
priests also believe that sometimes the coco de mer trees rose up above the ocean surface, and when this happened, the waves that the trees created did not allow any ship nearby to sail away and the helpless sailors were eaten by the Garuda.
221:
and protecting the capital of Bantam. However, the nut that the admiral was given was missing the top part; apparently the Sultan had ordered the top of the nut to be cut off, in order not to upset the noble admiral's modesty.
201:, any coco de mer nuts that were found in the ocean or on the beaches were supposed to be given to the king, and keeping a nut for yourself or selling it could have resulted in the death penalty. However,
307:
New legends about the coco de mer came into existence after 1743, when the real coco de mer trees were discovered. Fruits of coco de mer are developed only on female trees. Male trees have long
107:, thus when the ocean currents cause the nut to wash up on a distant beach, for example in the Maldives, a tree cannot, and does not, grow from the nut. The name coco de mer is
83:
on one side, and a woman's belly and thighs on the other side. Not surprisingly, this nut was viewed by people in other parts of the world as a rare and fascinating object with
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seamen had seen coco de mer nuts "falling upwards" from the sea bed, and so they had reasoned that these nuts must grow on underwater trees, in a forest at the bottom of the
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71:. The exceptional size and suggestive form of the nut, the circumstances of its discovery, and some unusual qualities of the trees have given rise to several legends.
63:. Before the Seychelles were discovered and settled, nuts of this species were sometimes carried by the ocean currents to distant shores, such as those of the
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The nut of the coco de mer is very large (the largest seed in the plant kingdom) and is oddly shaped, being the shape and size of a woman's disembodied
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is from the Greek words meaning "beautiful rump". Historically these floating "beautiful rumps" were collected and sold for a fortune in
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mentioned that many believed the nuts to be an antidote to all poisons. The nuts were praised not only by scientists and
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of the tree was not understood. A number of legends arose both about the nuts, and about the trees that produce them.
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178:'s body, including the buttocks. This association is reflected in one of the plant's archaic botanical names,
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believed that coco de mer possessed amazing healing powers, superior even to those of "the precious stone
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It occurred to at least some of Gordon's readers that if coco de mer was really the forbidden fruit,
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would have had a very hard time handing this gigantic fruit (which weighs 15–30 kg) to
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externally the coco-de-mer represents the belly and thighs, the true seat of carnal desires
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markets. After his trip, coco de mer nuts never again held the same extraordinary value.
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of the coco de mer is not fully understood, is one of the factors behind the legend.
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properties. The nature and origin of this extraordinary nut was mysterious, and the
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of the Arabs). African priests believed that the Garuda was capable of hunting
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translated by RICHARD FRANCIS BURTON and his wife Lady Isabel Burton (1880).
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68:
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276:. He loaded up with a cargo of these unusual nuts, which he later sold in
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The nuts that were found in the ocean and on the beaches no longer had a
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Hobson-Jobson: a glossary of colloquial Anglo-Indian words and phrases
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The coco de mer palm has separate male and female trees, unlike the
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51:. It is the subject of various legends and lore. Coco de mer is
28:
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272:, the second largest island in the Seychelles, on the ship
67:, where the tree was unknown. These floating nuts did not
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Nature's strongholds: the world's great wildlife reserves
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also received a nut as a gift for his services, from the
541:. LONDON:BERNARD QUARITCH,IS PICCADILLY, W. p. 409
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was able to purchase one of these nuts for 4,000 gold
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115:Legends predating the discovery of the Seychelles
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417:
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632:Laura Riley, William Riley (January 3, 2005).
490:"West Australian Nutgrowing Society Yearbook"
284:Legends after the discovery of the Seychelles
248:beneath profoundest seas, of sov'reign might,
8:
703:. FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY. p. 256.
246:O'er lone Maldivia's islets grows the plant,
660:seychelles garden of eden legends gordon.
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18:
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260:by cunning leech of antidotes the best
638:. Princeton University Press. p.
425:"Most Famous of All Palms Coco de Mer"
361:tree of the knowledge of good and evil
16:Species of palm tree native to Africa
7:
700:Wit, Wisdom and Foibles of the Great
454:George Plimpton (February 5, 1979).
355:, and that the coco de mer was the
495:. 1976. p. 15. Archived from
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14:
561:"Praslin's marvelous Coco de Mer"
538:Works, Volume 2 By LuĂs de Camões
292:Photo collage showing the female
230:". In one of his books, Dr.
697:Charles Anthony Shriner (1920).
559:J. G. Nash (December 24, 2004).
300:as well as the male coco de mer
31:sometimes washes up onto beaches
182:Comm. ex J. St.-Hil., in which
1:
672:Johnny Morris (15 May 2004).
522:: an archaic term for doctor.
203:Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
55:to the Seychelles islands of
609:"The star of the Seychelles"
607:Damian Lewis (15 Apr 2008).
395:Arthur Coke Burnell (1903).
315:. Because of these unusual,
339:in 1881, believed that the
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674:"Grail trail: Coco-de-mer"
217:in 1602, for fighting the
456:"The Islands Of Paradise"
162:Coco de Mar trees at the
43:native to Africa, in the
363:. General Gordon wrote:
320:fact that even now the
35:The nut and tree of the
132:Georg Eberhard Rumphius
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740:History of Seychelles
333:Charles George Gordon
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238:, but also by poets.
232:Berthold Carl Seemann
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39:is a rare species of
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735:Seychellois folklore
351:as described in the
209:. The Dutch Admiral
745:Mythological plants
678:The Daily Telegraph
613:The Daily Telegraph
589:. November 28, 2000
466:on October 26, 2012
47:archipelago in the
436:. January 28, 1906
335:, who visited the
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211:Wolfert Hermanssen
180:Lodoicea callipyge
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649:978-0-691-12219-9
347:was the original
343:on the island of
128:Antonio Pigafetta
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215:Sultan of Bantam
126:. According to
27:nut without its
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433:New York Times
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349:Garden of Eden
296:fruit with no
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240:LuĂs de Camões
224:JoĂŁo de Barros
166:Nature Reserve
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502:on 2010-05-24
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504:. Retrieved
497:the original
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464:the original
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403:. Retrieved
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124:Indian Ocean
118:
97:
85:mythological
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49:Indian Ocean
34:
322:pollination
294:coco de mer
258:is confest,
93:propagation
37:coco de mer
25:coco de mer
23:The mature
724:Categories
683:2010-04-28
676:. London:
655:2010-04-28
618:2010-04-28
611:. London:
593:2010-04-28
566:2010-04-27
545:2010-04-28
506:2010-04-27
470:2010-04-27
440:2010-04-28
405:2010-04-28
383:References
337:Seychelles
331:, General
268:sailed to
219:Portuguese
45:Seychelles
311:-looking
264:In 1769,
254:of ev'ry
236:botanists
184:callipyge
144:elephants
87:and even
69:germinate
41:palm tree
256:Theriack
242:wrote:
199:Maldives
81:buttocks
65:Maldives
61:Curieuse
730:Legends
359:of the
345:Praslin
327:In the
313:catkins
309:phallic
270:Praslin
207:florins
197:In the
190:and in
152:African
105:fertile
100:coconut
89:magical
75:Context
57:Praslin
53:endemic
707:
646:
317:erotic
302:catkin
278:Indian
250:whose
228:Bezoar
192:Europe
188:Arabia
150:. The
148:tigers
136:Garuda
109:French
520:Leech
500:(PDF)
493:(PDF)
428:(PDF)
353:Bible
176:woman
120:Malay
705:ISBN
644:ISBN
377:Adam
298:husk
252:pome
172:husk
146:and
140:Rukh
138:(or
130:and
59:and
29:husk
640:511
586:PBS
460:CNN
373:Eve
726::
658:.
642:.
583:.
479:^
458:.
430:.
414:^
379:.
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408:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
