What does it take to survive on a deserted island? Maybe... a coconut?

In a recently released movie, "The Island", the characters are stranded on a deserted island. Although the screenwriter had already given them cheat codes, with fresh water, fish, and wild fruit in plentiful supply, they still pulled out all the stops to survive.

But I think that if the screenwriter could have arranged a tall, mighty plant for the poor castaways -- the Exeggutorcoconut-- then their little lives would have been much easier. Of course, that's provided they knew how to pick coconuts and split the shells open, right?

A normal Exeggutor and an Alolan Exeggutor. Image: Bulbapedia

What does it take to survive on a deserted island?

The coconut (Cocos nucifera) is probably the tropical plant most familiar to friends living outside the tropics. After all, even if you've never seen a real coconut, everyone has surely seen or drunk that coconut milk beveragewith the eye-catching typographic styleandbrainwashing-level advertising copythat is famous in the design world.

The coconut we see today is the only surviving plant in the genus Cocos of the palm family. The coconut hasmany of the typical features of palms, such as huge pinnate leaves, segmented (ringed leaf scars) and distinctly fibrous stems, and axillary inflorescences. If you look closely, the coconut fruit (infructescence) also looks like an enlarged betel nut -- except this kind of "betel nut"can kill you.

Beware of falling coconuts from above. Image: pixabay

In many deserted-island survival TV shows, the host tells everyone: if you can find a coconut palm bearing fruit on the shore, then you can save yourself a lot of trouble.Clean drinking waterandnutrient-rich foodare two things essential for surviving on a deserted island, and a coconut falling from the sky happens to solve both problems.

"Coconut water" can satisfy your drinking needs, while the white coconut meat is a rich source of protein and fat. The leftover coconut shell can serve as a vessel for catching rainwater, boiling food and drinking water, reducing the risk of food poisoning. It can even be used to make floats, life jackets (rings), and with a few dozen of them you can make a little raft. It can be said to beone fruit with N uses, with a very high cost-performance ratio. If you're lucky, it might even attract a couple of coconut crabs for you, and you can solve your seafood feast along the way.

The coconut crab (Birgus latro) is good at climbing trees and is the largest terrestrial arthropod. Image: Tobias Bernhard Raff / Biosphoto / mindenpictures

Besides the fruit being tasty and useful, the coconut palm'sleaves and stem also have quite good uses. The huge, highly waterproof leaves can serve as the roof of a makeshift hut; the old bark fibers peeled from the stem are long, slender, and abundant, and can be used as windproof and rainproof material, twisted into rope, and, if torn into fine fluff, used as tinder for starting a fire. Furthermore, if you get bored on a deserted island, the coconut palm can also be used for climbing to exercise, or kicking the trunk for punching practice -- simply couldn't be more perfect.

If you were given a coconut, how would you use it? Image: pixabay

Then again, the operations described above require professionally trained people to accomplish. If you don't know how to climb trees, crack coconuts, or catch crabs, it's better to save your strength and wait for rescue.

Is it a seed or a fruit?

The "coconuts" we usually see in stores come in two completely different forms: one looks like a green youngster, its smooth tender-green three-ridged outer skin shaved to reveal a little tuft of pointed white fuzz; the other looks like a weather-beaten old man, its rough brown outer skin covered in dried brown fibers. The shopkeeper might tell you that the former is an unripe greenhorn, so it's called a "green coconut", while the latter is fully ripe, so it's called an "old coconut". But this is the Species Calendar set, so I'll tell you,the "green coconut" is actually the complete coconut fruit, whilethe "old coconut" has had its exocarp and mesocarp removed。

"Young man" and "old man". Image: pixabay

If we peel open a coconut the way we peel an onion, we'll first see a slightly thin, waterproof, smooth-texturedwaterproof outer skin (exocarp), and tightly connected to it a layer of light, soft, fluffywhite fiber (mesocarp)that feels a bit like a sponge or European bread. After removing these two layers, the coconut goes from "youth" to "old age".

If you peel open a coconut layer by layer by layer by layer... you'll get a hand cramp. Image: busy.org; Chinese localization: Species Calendar

Many people think that the hard "old coconut" seen at this point is the coconut's seed, but that's not so -- because that layer of white (unripe) or brown (ripe)hard shell is actually the coconut's endocarp, and the true seed coat is the thin skin clinging tightly to the inside of this hard shell. Sometimes when we take out the coconut meat, this layer ofseed coat will still stick to the coconut meat。

The hard brown skin attached to the white coconut meat is the coconut's true seed coat. Image: wikihow

On the relatively smooth side of this hard coconut shell there arethree small holes, and the coconut's embryo sits right above one of these holes. Farther inside the shell is the coconut's ediblehard endosperm, which is the familiar layer of white, tender coconut meat. The form of this endosperm changes as the coconut matures, going from a translucent, soft, sticky state (unripe) to a white, hard solid (ripe), and then gradually thinning, hardening, and yellowing (overripe).

You can stick a straw in it, stuff your fingers in to use it as a bowling ball, and also... the interior shown by the arrow is where the embryo is located. Image: wikihow

The several layers of pericarp and seed coat described above together build awell-sealed waterproof cavity, and the cavity contains nutrient-rich and very abundant "water", which is the coconut's liquid endosperm. When the embryo germinates, it gradually absorbs this liquid endosperm, eventually turning into a mass of white cotton-like fluff, also called"coconut apple"。

The white ball in the middle is the "coconut apple". Image: wordpress.com

The coconut's fantastic voyage

The reason the coconut evolved such a uniquely shaped fruit and seed is inseparable from itsreliance on seawater to disperse its seeds. The air-filled mesocarp and exocarp have a waterproof effect, allowing the coconut to float on the sea for a very long time; even if the outer pericarp rots away, the hard endocarp and the huge cavity inside the seed can ensure it doesn't easily "sink".

A coconut that has obeyed the sea's "call". Image: Jurgen Freund / NPL / mindenpictures

In addition, if you weigh a coconut in your hand, you might find thatthe coconut's mass is not uniform, but rather the side with the hole (embryo) is slightly lighter than the opposite side. This allows the coconut, as it drifts with the waves, to maximizeits ability to "stand itself up", keeping the embryo's position on top, avoiding the awkward situation of germinating head-down into the soil and being unable to emerge. (Of course, even if that really happened, it wouldn't matter -- it would just turn a corner, twist its neck, and grow back.)

A germinating coconut. Image: Wmpearl / wikimedia

The hole in the coconut shell provides a passage for the sprout to germinate, and the nutrient-rich endosperm (coconut meat, coconut water) provides enough nutrition for the sprout's germination. Therefore, even if the coconut is stranded onnutrient-poor sandy beaches, it can still sprout and grow smoothly.

The germination of a coconut is also a bit different from the plants we commonly see. Usually, seed germination introduced in textbooks is that the radicle grows first and penetrates into the soil, and only then do the cotyledons grow. However, because the coconut'ssprout germinates at a relatively high position, often even above the ground surface, it relies on its own stored nutrients to first grow sturdy cotyledons, then germinates young roots in the manner of "aerial roots", penetrating into the soil, and gradually forms the huge fibrous root system that is the hallmark of monocotyledons. Also because of this strange characteristic, the coconutis more suited to growing in soft, sandy soil; when it encounters harder clay soil, the relatively weak young roots find it difficult to grow.

The coconut palm's massive root system. Image: pixabay

How to eat coconut

When it comes to the connection between coconut and human civilization, it certainly can't be separated from eating. Besides eating coconut meat directly and drinking coconut water, the people of southern China and Southeast Asia have created countless ways to eat coconut.

Mix coconut meat and coconut water, blend into coconut milk, then add sago and makecoconut sago cake; add coconut milk to curry to create a rich taste and aroma; directly put black chicken and other ingredients into a coconut and stew them with coconut water to makecoconut chicken; add glutinous rice and steam it together with the coconut meat to makecoconut sticky rice; add Gluconoacetobacter xylinum to coconut water and ferment it to make chewynata de coco; dry the coconut meat and make crispycoconut flakes; cut the coconut meat into small triangles or shave it into thin slices, and preserve it with powdered sugar to make the Guangzhou region's representative New Year goodssugar coconut wedges ⟧97⟧(sugar coconut); and the internet-famous(sugar palm); and also a recent internet-famous onecoconut jellyfrom a while back; the sweet and refreshingcoconut ice cream; and so on.

Various coconut delicacies. Image: Xiaodandandandan & Yueliang Jingjing & Xiangxiang 1018 / Douguo Meishi; pixabay

Besides being eaten directly, as a crop very rich in oil, the coconut can also be refined intococonut oil. Although its oil yield is not as high as that of other true oil crops, it still counts as a decent edible oil (after all, it's also a palm oil), and it carries the coconut's unique aroma, making it suitable for making some fresh little pastries.

White coconut oil. Image: pixabay

In addition, the uncommoncoconut flower is also a high-quality sugar source; after harvesting and refining, it can be made into brown coconut sugar with a coconut aroma. Its sweetness is not high, and its glycemic index is relatively low, making it the preferred seasoning for many specialty desserts in Southeast Asia. The coconut's hard shell is also often processed into various exquisite carvings or vessels, which also counts as making the most of everything.

Coconut inflorescence and brown coconut sugar. Image: Filo gèn" &Edi Wibowo / wikimedia

Coconut shell painted decorations for the Western Day of the Dead. Image: wikimedia

By the way, besides the above fairly practical uses, because "coconut" in the Cantonese-speaking region sounds similar to "yeh ji", in the Guangdong region there is the custom of giving coconuts to newlyweds as a blessing, taking from itthe meaning of "having a father and having a son", which also counts as a rather interesting folk custom.

Ta-da~ bonus time! Have you learned the lynx's clever uses for coconuts?

This article is the 230th article of Year 4 of Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @Wing Wolf Elang.

If you like him, you can also follow

Wing Wolf's Otherworld

id: brainholelang

From Wing Wolf's wild imaginings and bottomless pits

Great content you might have missed

Calendar Girl Today's Avatar

Arecaceae Areca