Introduction

Abstract

This chapter introduces the coconut palm to the reader. The coconut, Cocos nucifera L. (family Arecaceae), has been the most useful plant to the humans since every part of it has been finding an active economic use. Its importance has been diminishing in the present era. Coconut palm is the hallmark of the tropical beaches with its often slanting trunks and symmetrical crown. The members of the family Arecaceae are unique among plants because they are the longest living plants, since stem cells of several kinds remain throughout the life of palms.

For about a century from the dawn of the Industrial Revolution, the coconut oil was the most traded among all the vegetable oils. Its importance began to diminish with end of the Second World War. When the FAO began to publish area-production figures in 1961, the rank of the coconut oil had come down to 4th out of 14 traded vegetable oils in the world, and in 2011, it ranked as low as 11th. The reasons for the downslide have been analyzed. There are certain unique aspects of the coconuts in the world in matters of production and consumption that have been recorded for general information.

Annexure I: Description of Coconut (Cocos nucifera) Given in Linnaeus C (1753)