English Name: Coconut tree
Malayalam Name: തെങ്ങ്
Botanical Name: Cocos nucifera L.
Family: Arecaceae
State Flower of Kerala
Flowering & Fruiting: Throughout the year
Description: Description: Description A palm usually with solitary (rarely branched), straight and flexible stem, and growing 30 – 40 m tall with scars of fallen leaves in semicircular rings and crowned by an apical cluster of huge pinnate leaves, 3 – 4 m long with linear-lanceolate rigid leaflets.
Etymology:’Kokkos’ means berry in Greek, referring to the appearance of coconut fruits in clusters. In Portuguese word ‘coco’, means monkey; apparently referring to the resemblance of coconut fruits with the head or skull of amonkey; specific epithet specific epithet ‘nucifera ucifera ucifera’ in Latin means nut-bearing (from ‘fero’ = bear and ‘nux-nucin’ = nut).
Economic importance : The oil extracted from the nut is edible and also used to make soap and candles; copra extracted from the nut is used in confectionery; copra residue is used as fodder and manure; and fiber extracted from the husk is used to make carpets and ropes. Coir is derived from the Malayalam word ‘kayar’ or ‘kayaru,’ which means twisted cord. The coir industry is second only to agriculture in terms of employment in Kerala, and it is the state’s largest cottage industry. Alappuzha (Alleppey) is the hub of Kerala’s renowned coir industry, producing coir products such as ropes, mats, mattresses, and textiles.
Medicinal Uses : Medicinal Applications Coconut milk, the fruit’s endosperm, is a refrigerant, nutrient, aperients, diuretic, and anthelmintic. The water and tender pulp of an unripe coconut are aperients, diuretics, and worm destroyers. It is also an aphrodisiac and a diuretic. The oily exudates produced by the shells is antiseptic and rubefacient. Flowers have astringent properties. The root is a diuretic that is used to treat uterine diseases.
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