Coco-de-Mer

The world’s largest seed

A single coco-de-mer can weigh up to 25 kilograms — by far the largest seed of any plant on Earth. The smooth double-lobed shape resembling a human pelvis (or, more famously, a buttocks) gave the fruit its long mythical reputation.

The trees themselves are equally extreme: they live up to 350 years, take 25 years to first fruit, and can grow over 30 meters tall. Mature trees are dioecious — separate male and female — and fruit takes 5-7 years to develop after pollination.

A medieval mystery

Before the Seychelles were discovered by Europeans, coco-de-mer nuts occasionally washed up on beaches across the Indian Ocean — Maldives, Indonesia, India. No one knew where they came from. They were thought to grow on a mysterious underwater tree at the bottom of the sea, and were sometimes valued more than gold by Asian and European royalty.

The mystery dissolved in 1768, when explorers reached the Seychelles’ Praslin Island and found the actual trees growing there. The fruit’s value collapsed, but its mystique remained.

Government-tracked individuals

Today, every coco-de-mer fruit is registered with the Seychelles government. Possession outside the Seychelles requires a CITES export permit and a numbered government certificate. Stripped fruits are sometimes sold as official tourist souvenirs at high prices, with the certificate of authenticity attached.

This protection exists because the trees are critically endangered, with fewer than 8,000 mature individuals surviving in the wild — all on two small islands.

Hardly a “food” anymore

Although the immature jelly-like flesh inside young coco-de-mer is technically edible — comparable to coconut jelly — the protected status and rarity mean the fruit is essentially never eaten. A single nut can be worth thousands of dollars on the souvenir market.

What started as one of the world’s most mysterious fruits has become one of its most regulated.