Coconut

*Cocos nucifera*

How to know it

A tall unbranched palm with a curved trunk and a crown of long feathered fronds. Nuts grow in clusters where the fronds meet the trunk. Impossible to mistake for anything else.

What it does

The water is a drink, the flesh is food, the oil is cooking fat and soap, the husk fibre becomes rope, matting and potting compost, the shell becomes bowls and charcoal, and the fronds thatch roofs. It is the most completely used plant in the region.

Safety

Falling nuts cause real injuries. Do not let children sit or play under a fruiting palm, and have nuts harvested rather than left to drop. This is worth stating plainly rather than softening.

Two things to do with children

Take a whole nut apart in stages. Husk, shell, flesh, water. Laying the parts out in order and naming what each one is used for takes ten minutes and is remembered for years.

Estimate the height of a palm by lying children end to end on the ground. A mature palm is about eight to twelve children long, which surprises them.