Horned coconut - With two horns

En fait, les diverses photographies de noix de cocotiers dits "à corne" que nous avons pu trouver montrent des morphologies très diverses. Il n'existe donc pas un seul type de cocotier à corne, mais plusieurs types qui se distinguent par des cornes plus ou moins longues, plus ou moins épaisses et plus ou moins courbées.

India

An anecdote from the Seventh Kailasam temple – Thenthiruperai, in Thoothukudi district, Tamil Nadu. During the British Era, once Captain Durai, who ruled over this district, rested here during his journey. As he was thirsty, he asked for tender coconut that was hanging on a tree nearby. The townsfolk replied that the coconuts on that grove weren’t intended for humans but for the omnipresent God and warned him from plucking them.




So the captain arrogantly replied, “Does the coconut in the temple grove sprout horns?” and ordered his assistant to fetch those coconuts from the tree. The assistant on his command fetched the coconuts from the tree. Miraculously the tender coconut had three horns. The English Commander, realised his folly, fell to his knees and sought the Lord’s forgiveness.

Also he ordered the Government to pay 26 Salli Paisas daily to perform rituals and poojas at the temple. Even now our government is paying this amount for the temple. Visitors to the temple can view the three horned coconut, that hangs in front of the Amman Sanctum.

Sri Lanka

Il semble que la première description scientifique de cocotiers dit "à corne" date de 1924 et a été réalisée au Sri Lanka (Petch, 1924). Nous n'avons pas pu obtenir cet article pour l'instant.

French Polynesia

Cocotier à corne de l'atoll de Tetiaroa

References

Petch, T. (1924) A horned coconut. Yearbook DoA, Ceylon pp 20-21.
Areca and Cocos in Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Indian J. For., 1979, 2, 350–363

Davis, T. S. (1965). Addition to the theories on the morphology of horns in coconut fruits.

Jerard, B. A., Niral, V., Dhanapal, R., Damodaran, V., Arunachalam, V., Rajesh, M. K., ... & Thomas, G. V. (2014). IND 221–Andaman Horned Cocos (IC0598221; INGR13063), a Coconut (Cocos nucifera) Germplasm with Distinct Character of Horny Nuts. Indian Journal of Plant Genetic Resources, 27(1), 76-77.

The 14 branches coconut palm from Maalhos island, Baa, in Maldives, an extinct world record...

Picture published by Afrah Mohamed

This palm was producing green fruits. It was still alive in 2010. Unfortunately, it was dead four years ago when another photographer visited the site in 2014. 

The same palm photographed in 2014.

This coconut palm held the world record for the number of trunks on the same tree, but it no longer exists. No one bothered to saw off the trunk, dry it and keep it, even though this trunk would have had its place in a museum! it is also possible, if the tree begins to die, to cut out certain branches and try to replant them by halving the leaves to reduce evapotranspiration. Sometimes roots appear at the base and the branch can survive...

According to Eydhafushi times (June, 22, 2015) traders from three islands of Baa atoll said that every day more than 1,000 young coconuts (locally known as ‘kurumba’) is sold to some islands of the atoll and to the federal capital Male’. Kendhoo, Kamadhoo and Maalhos, which grows coconut palms, exported 300 to 500 young coconuts during the past three days to the atoll and Male’. Traders said that the price of a young coconut in Baa atoll’s capital island Eydhafushi currently stand at more than MVR 15 (USD 1).

A trader from Maalhos predicted that around 500 young coconuts can be produced daily from the island during the first 10 days of Ramadan which is underway. However, supplies are expected to drop after that, he said. Farmers from Kamadhoo and Kendhoo said that though the price can be sustained, the supply will decrease during the latter days of the Islamic fasting month.

Pora Pol coconut with hard and thick shells

By Dr Roland Bourdeix and Lalith Perera

Pora Pol coconut variety from Sri Lanka

In Sri Lanka, an expert at Pora Pol, a traditional game, Weddikkarage Abeysinghe is determined to take part in the ritual come Avurudu as long as he can. Clad completely in white – his sarong, banian and turban, all in pure white, Weddikkarage Abeysinghe is ready to perform a sacred act. In his hands he holds a rather unusual type of a coconut – smaller in size than the usual nut we know.

The firm grip he has on the coconut is symbolic of how this middle-aged gentleman from the outskirts of Pannipitiya, is holding fast to a traditional game – the Pora Pol (nut cracking) which once occupied a predominant place among Avurudu games as something with a religious element to it.

Abeysinghe anticipates the arrival of Sinhala and Tamil Aluth Avurudu with great pleasure as it gives him a chance to take part in this traditional Pora Pol game- a practice he has followed for the past 50 years since he was a lively lad of eight. Come April, this retiree puts aside all his other activities to practise Pora Pol to take part in Avurudu celebrations held close to his home.

A ritualistic activity to derive blessings from Goddess Pattini during the spread of illnesses in the village, the practice of playing Pora Pol, is believed to have originated from Matara some 300 or 400 years back, Abeysinghe believes.

 

The Pora Pol variety is disappearing. The first author of this site, Dr Roland Bourdeix, together with a well known coconut scientist, Dr Lalith Perera, proposed to create a conservatory of the Pora pol variety by replanting one of the small islands of Sri Lanka according to the Polymotu concept. This project, initiated by the Diversiflora International association, has unfortunately not yet materialized.

“It was a prominent part in Gammadu ceremonies where two or three months prior to holding Pattini pooja at Gammadu ceremonies, villagers engage in breaking Pora Pol. Like that they go on to crack thousands of nuts for weeks. As a kid I too have done it while in Matara and this was the starting point,” he says. Abeysinghe tells how people who engage in this ritualistic activity of cracking Pora Pol seeking divine blessings, become pure vegetarians months in advance. Playing Pora Pol takes place in the vicinity of a Devalaya and prior to commencing the game at an auspicious time, the Kapu mahattaya of the Devalaya engages in yathikawa (invocation)asking for divine blessings for the village as well for the safety of the players during the game. The reason why players are clad in full white is because it is an act of divinity, he says, adding that at the conclusion of the ceremony, the smashed coconuts are not consumed but used to produce oil for lighting the lamps.

The Pora Pol breaking activity is still takes place in areas like Matara, Galle on a grand scale, and this ritual became a part of Avurudu celebrations as a folk game, he adds.

A game that demonstrates the courage, physical prowess and the tactical thinking of the male, it requires two teams, an equal number of players on both sides (even a single pair can take part in the game) with an equal number of nuts on either side. The two teams are referred to as ‘Udu Pila’ and ‘Yati Pila’. At the start of the game, the number of coconuts is counted and as the game progresses, members from each team come forward one by one to face an opponent. Taking turns, they throw the nuts with full force in the direction of the opponent while the latter targets the oncoming nut to smash it with the one he holds in his hand, Abeysinghe explains. At the end of the game, when the stack of coconuts of each team is counted, the side that has the highest number of nuts unbroken, wins the game.

A veteran in the art of Pora Pol breaking, Abeysinghe is familiar with every aspect of the game, including the different nuts and where to find the ones best suited for the game.

“You get the best Pora Pol from Matara while in areas like Galle, Kurunegala, and Polgasowita too you find these coconuts. Ones that are from Matara are very hardy and ideal for the game,” he explains as he shows us a few more types –Samanalaya, Tikka and Kokmaduwa -the latter is named after a location while the other two are named after the manner in which they twist and turn when thrown.

“This is a risky game. The players use their full force when they throw the coconut at the rival team, not with the intention to hitting them but to avoid the opponent cracking it. There were instances that I suffered hand injuries,” he explains. A few months prior to Avurudu, Abeysinghe makes a trip to Matara with his brother to collect a few of these special coconuts for the Pora Pol game.

“These coconuts are worth a lot because they are rare. People do not sell them, because they consider them sacred. Instead, they offer them to the devala and temples to be used for these ritualistic festivals. I also know a few owners who have this type of coconut trees planted in their estates. That is how I collect a few from here and there,” Abeysinghe reveals.

The game however, is fast disappearing, mainly due to the lack of skilled players and youngsters disinterested in learning the game or the difficulty in finding that special variety of nuts used for this purpose, explains Abeysinghe rather despondently. This, however, is the very reason he never misses taking part in a Pora Pol game every Avurudu.

An emotional Abeysinghe speaks of a few skilled people who mastered the art of Pora Pol playing. Among them is ‘Ebaran’ from Kahathuduwa – a genius at the game. “I was very small when I used to watch him play. Ebaran maama was at his peak at the age of about 50. Later on, in my 20’s I even played a game or two with him,” he recalls.

The tradition of Pora Pol breaking should be sustained he feels, stressing that he will continue to take part in this folk game for Avurudu as long as he can. He has two daughters and so Abeysinghe is now thinking of training his nephew to make sure the tradition continues.

Information from the Sunday Times, Sri Lanka, Sunday, April 12, 2015
by Dhananjani Silva

essai

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Dancing coconut eyes Normal coconut have three eyes, or two eyes and one mouth according to people perception and cultures. No more, no less; except if they are coconut freaks...
One eyed coconut
Two eyed coconut
Three eyed (normal) coconut
Three and half eyed coconut
Four eyed coconut
Four and half eyed coconut
Five eyed coconut
Twin coconut fruits
Twin coconuts

A palm bearing about 5000 coconuts in the same time

This freaks was found on Youtube. It seems that there is water inside the young fruits, but we dont know if the fruits reach the stage of full maturity, with a complete embryo. Most often, such kind of fruit is derived from a parthenocarpic developement (growth without pollination) and it contains only husk, no kernel nor shell. 

A quite similar phenotype was observed by Dr R. Bourdeix in Tonga on a Compact Dwarf Coconut (Niu Leka type). I this case, the pollination process was not complete and most of the fruits were empty and came from a parthenocarpic developement.

The "Seven in one" Coconut palm in Rarotonga, Cook Islands

Full text coming soon...

The Lonely planet guide “Rarotonga and the Cook Island” tells us the following story. “In the centre of Avarua, capital city of the Cook Islands, just to the east of the traffic circle is a group of seven tall coconut trees growing in a perfect circle. Tradition has it that they are really all one tree! Supposedly in  the distant past an amazing coconut with seven sprouts was found in the Island of Tatukea, near Atiu, and brought here to be planted. Papa Tangaroa Kainuku, oral historian of Rarotonga and Tumu Korero (speaker) of Kainuku Ariki, tells a different story about the trees, however. Apparently his grandfather, Frederick Goodwin, brought seven coconuts (not one) from Manihiki when he returned to Rarotonga sometime around 1900, and planted the seven trees in a circle here to commemorate the birth of his daughter, Papa Tangaroa’s mother, Te Ariki Vaine Akakino Ia E Te Vaa Tangata I Taputapuatea, who was born on 6 November 1898 while Goodwin was away in Manihiki. The circle of trees marked the boundary between Kaviri on the east, belonging to Makea Nui Ariki, and Tura’i on the west, belonging to Karika Ariki.”
During almost a century, people of Rarotonga picked seednuts from the Seven-in-one coconut palm to plant it in their field or in their home garden. Some of them tell me that they tried it in order to know how much sprouts will grow from each seednuts. The people I meet obtained one sprout only for each seednuts, anyway.
So we decided to sample these seven palms for DNA analysis and to harvest their fruits as a population, namely Cook Island Tall Seven-in-one (COKT01). Piri Puruto III, the great coconut climber of Rarotonga, accepted to climb the seven-in-one coconut palms ; he did it by following strictly the old Polynesian way, and he collected fruits and leaflets samples. Because of the story, a TV interview has been done and the COGENT activities and research programmes were presented to all the country under the supervision of the ministry of Agriculture.
The Seven palms were sampled for leaflets; DNA Molecular Analysis should at least let us know if these palms are real twins, full-sib, half-sib or unrelated. About 105 seednuts were collected, but many of them were already germinated on  the palm or too young. According to the Polynesian tradition, some of the seednuts had to be left to the climbers, and it was not possible to escape it. We obtained only 60 albumen cylinders that finally gave 52 excised embryos cultivated in Vitro at the South Pacific Commission Lab.
Picture of palms and fruits were done. One fruit per palm was kept and Tiara Mataora will have to weigh the fruit component analysis in order to complete the data. Palm n°82 seems a little different from others because it was bearing many already germinated dry fruits.

I should like to thank the colleagues and partners who helped to ensure that this mission in Cook Islands took place under good material and scientific conditions. Special thanks to Messrs Mark Brown, Secretary of Agriculture, and M. Tiara Mataora, from the Ministry of Outer Island Development, along with their colleagues at Tototoiku Research Station. Another special thanks to Piri Puruto III, the great coconut climber of Rarotonga, who accepted to climb the seven-in-one coconut palms located in the central place of Avarua, the capital of the Cook Island. Indeed, it was not easy, for a man again strong but aged 59 years, to harvest seednuts and top leaflets samples by a day of hard wind, from palms aged more than 100 years.


02/04/2000: Sunday, day off. Meeting with M. Piri Puruto III, the great Coconut climber, in order to convince him to make a show in the local TV and to harvest seednuts and leaflet samples from the Seven-in-one Coconut palms at Avarua.
08/04/2000: Saturday, day off. Meeting with local TV, Marc Brown and Piri Puruto III. Climbing and Harvest of the Seven-in-one Coconut palms filmed by the TV.
11/04/2000: Extraction of the last 100 embryos for the tall population of Papaaroa school. Harvest of the 5 other palms of the Seven-in-one Coconut Palm by a young coconut climber. Harvest of the soft husk Coconut in Paparua School (seednuts and leaflets). Sending a Fax to Fiji Quarantine services.
12/04/2000: husking and extracting the embryos for the populations Cook Island Tall Seven-in-one and Soft Husk. Pictures of the fruits. Visit to a doctor (I was sick). Preparation of the last leaflets samples. Meeting with Gerald McCormack, director of the Cook Islands Natural Heritage project.

Coconut with two kernels inside!

By Vijay Sadavisam and Roland Bourdeix

This coconut with two kernel inside was dicovered in India by the family of Dr Vijay Sadasivam, a a radiologist practicing in Salem, a small city in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, during the year 2006. The precise coconut variety remains unknown.

Dr Vijay had the courtesy to send us these photos and to authorize us to publish them on this website. 

As of 2019, we never see another similar freaks, and its remains the only of its kind worldwide. 

We conducted some more investigation and found three other ones....

The second was found in Samoa, and the picture sent by our colleague Valerie Saena Tuia.

The third comes from india and is indeed very strange! 

But the oldest one was found in the collection of a museum

The oldest,

About the authors of the Coconut Freaks! website

A whole army of rare coconuts: all Coconut Freaks!

.

Dr Roland Bourdeix
President of Diversiflora Expertise
1444 route de Mende G169
34090 Montpellier, France

Tel：+33-782824307

Email: roland_bourdeix@yahoo.fr

Dr. Augustine Jerard Bosco
Head, Division of Horticulture and Forestry,
ICAR-Central Island Agriculture Research Institute
Port Blair, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, India
Email: jerardba@gmail.com

  

Dr Professor Haikuo Fan

Coconut Research Institute (CRI) of Chinese Academy of Tropical Agricultural Sciences (CATAS)
Wenqing Avenue, Wenchang City
Hainan Province 571339, P. R.China
Tel：86-898-63330003
Fax：86-898-63330684

Three-eyed but strange coconuts!

By Dr Roland Bourdeix, click on the picture to enlarge...

The international Coconut Genebank for Africa and Indian Ocean is located in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. In some varieties introduced fom Papua New Guinea,  was observed some coconut with very large mouth (germinating pore) , as pictured. It seems to be a regular characteristics of some of the palms of these populations.

We do not know - and even cannot imagine at this stage - the natural selection pressure which could lead to the apparition of such a strange phenotype. Logically, it seems that the "mouth" is less protected so the fruit may be more fragile and more easily attacked by pest and diseases... Nature is keeping its mystery.

Click to enlarge

Coconut with three kernels inside the shell

By Roland Bourdeix and Haikuo Fan

This mysterious picture was saved from internet but, as of August 2019, the URL link was lost and it was no more possible for us to find again the original website.

We are still searching....

What next? waiting for your contribution!

Please send to us all image and videos of your coconut freaks, it will be a please for use to include then in out website, with your name as contributors!