What does a desert island depend on to survive? maybe. Is it a coconut?

In a recent film, "A good Show," the characters live on a desert island. Although the writers have already opened the plug-in, and there is no shortage of fresh water, fish, and wild fruit, they still do everything they can to survive.

However, I think that if the screenwriters can arrange a tall and powerful plant-- coconut egg tree and coconut tree-- for those who are in distress, then their little life will be much easier. Of course, only if they know how to pick coconuts and split coconut shells, right?

Common coconut trees and Arora's coconut trees. Picture: Bulbapedia

What does a desert island depend on to survive?

Coconut (Cocos nucifera) is probably the most familiar tropical plant for people living in non-tropical areas. After all, even if you haven't seen a real coconut, you must have seen / drank a coconut drink famous for its eye-catching typesetting style and brainwashing advertising.

The coconut we see today is the only living plant of the genus coconut in the palm family. Coconuts have many typical characteristics of palms, such as huge pinnate leaves, segments (annular leaf scars), fibrous stems, axillary inflorescences, and so on. If you look closely, the coconut fruit (preface) also looks like an enlarged version of betel nut-except that this kind of betel nut can kill people.

Be careful of falling coconut from a height. Picture: pixabay

In many desert island survival TV programs, the host will tell everyone: if you can find a coconut tree bearing fruit on the shore, you can save a lot of work. Clean drinking water and well-nourished food are essential to the survival of a desert island, and a coconut falling from the sky can solve these two problems.

Coconut water can meet drinking needs, while white coconut meat is a rich source of protein and fat. The finished coconut shell can be used as a vessel to carry Rain Water, boil food and drinking water, reduce the risk of food poisoning, and even be used as buoys, life jackets (rings), and a few dozen can also be used as a small raft, which can be said to be used as a fruit. The performance-to-price ratio is quite high. When you are lucky, you may even get two coconut crabs, and by the way, even a seafood meal can be solved.

Coconut crab (Birgus latro), which is good at climbing trees, is the largest terrestrial arthropod. Picture: Tobias Bernhard Raff / Biosphoto / mindenpictures

In addition to the delicious and good fruit, the leaves and stems of coconut trees also have quite good uses. The huge and waterproof leaves can be used as the roof of a temporary hut; the old bark peeled off from the stem is slender and rich, which can not only be used as a material for shelter from the wind and rain, but also used as a rope and torn into thin floc shapes. it can also be used as a primer for making a fire. Moreover, if you feel bored on a desert island, coconut trees can also be used to climb trees for exercise or kick trees to practice boxing, which is simply not more perfect.

If I give you a coconut, what will you do with it? Picture: pixabay

On the other hand, the above operations can only be done by professionally trained people. If you can't climb trees, smash coconuts or catch crabs, it's better to save your strength and wait for rescue.

Is it seed or fruit?

The "coconut" we usually see in the store has two distinct forms: one looks like a young man, and the smooth green trigonous skin is cut into a handful of pointed white hairs; the other looks like an old man who has experienced many vicissitudes of life. The rough brown skin is covered with dry brown whiskers. The shopkeeper may tell you that the former is called "coconut green" because it does not grow up, and the latter is called "old coconut" because it is fully ripe. But this is the set of the species calendar, so I will tell you that "Coconut Green" is actually a complete coconut fruit, while "Old Coconut" has been removed from the exocarp and mesocarp.

"young man" and "old man". Picture: pixabay

If we peel a coconut like an onion, we will first see a thin, watertight, smooth waterproof exocarp (exocarp). And it is closely connected with a layer of light, soft and fluffy white fiber (mesocarp) that feels a bit like a sponge or European bread. After the removal of these two layers, the coconut has changed from "youth" to "old age".

If you peel off a coconut layer by layer... You get a hand cramp. Picture: busy.org; Chinese: species Calendar

Many people will think that the hard "old coconut" seen at this time is the coconut seed, but it is not-because the white (immature) or brown (mature) hard shell is actually the coconut endocarp. The real seed coat is the thin skin that clings to the inside of the hard shell, and sometimes when we take the coconut meat, the seed coat will stick to it.

The hard brown skin attached to the white coconut is the real coconut seed coat. Picture: wikihow

There are three small holes on the smooth side of the hard coconut shell, and the coconut embryo is on top of one of them. Further inside the coconut shell is the edible hard endosperm of the coconut, which is the layer of white and tender coconut that we are most familiar with. The shape of this endosperm changes as the coconut matures, changing from a translucent, soft and sticky state (immature) to a white, hard solid (mature), then slowly thinning, hardening, and yellowing (overripe).

You can insert a straw, you can plug your fingers as a bowling ball, and you can... The inside of the arrow is where the embryo is located. Picture: wikihow

The above layers of pericarp and seed coat work together to build a cavity with good water resistance, which contains nutritious and abundant "water", that is, the liquid endosperm of coconut. When the embryo germinates, it gradually absorbs the liquid endosperm and eventually turns into a mass of white cotton wool, also known as "coconut cake".

The white ball in the middle is the coconut cake. Picture: wordpress.com

The fantasy drifting of coconut

The reason why coconuts have evolved such unique fruits and seeds is inextricably linked to their dependence on sea water to spread seeds. The air-filled mesocarp and exocarp are waterproof, allowing coconuts to float on the sea for a long time; even if the outer pericarp is rotten, the hard endocarp and the huge cavity inside the seeds can ensure that the ship does not sink easily.

A coconut that listens to the call of the sea. Picture: Jurgen Freund / NPL / mindenpictures

In addition, if you hold the coconut in your hand, you may find that the quality of the coconut is not uniform, but the perforated side is slightly lighter than the opposite side. This makes the coconut in the process of drifting with the current, can maximize its own "stand up", so that the embryo at the top of the position, to avoid the germination of a head into the soil can not emerge embarrassing situation. Of course, I'm not afraid even if it happens. Just turn and twist your neck and grow back. )

A budding coconut. Picture: Wmpearl / wikimedia

The holes in the coconut shell provide a channel for germ germination, and the nutritious endosperm (coconut meat, coconut water) provides enough nutrition for germ germination, so the coconut can germinate smoothly even if it is stranded on the nutrient-poor beach.

The germination of coconut is also a little different from our common plants. Usually the seeds introduced in textbooks germinate from radicles and into the soil, and then cotyledons grow. However, because the coconut germ germinates in a high position, even above the surface, coconut will first grow strong cotyledons on its own accumulated nutrients, then sprout young roots in the posture of "aerial root" and plunge into the soil, and then gradually form the symbolic large whisker root system of Monocotyledon. Because of this strange property, coconuts are more suitable for growing on soft sandy soil, and weaker young roots will be difficult to grow when they encounter a harder clayey soil.

The huge roots of coconut trees. Picture: pixabay

How to eat coconut?

To talk about the connection between coconut and human civilization, it must be inseparable from eating. In addition to directly eating coconut meat and drinking coconut water, people in southern China and Southeast Asia have created countless ways to eat coconut.

Mix coconut meat and coconut water into coconut milk and add sago to make coconut milk Simi cake; add coconut milk to curry to create rich taste and aroma; directly put black chicken and other ingredients into coconut and stew coconut chicken with coconut water; add glutinous rice and coconut meat to steam into coconut milk glutinous rice; coconut water is fermented with grape acetic acid bacteria (Glucoacetobacter xylinum) to make coconut; roast coconut meat into crisp coconut slices Cut the coconut meat into small triangles or planed into thin slices, marinated with powdered sugar into sugar coconut horn (sugar coconut), some time ago the Internet celebrity coconut jelly, sweet and fresh coconut ice cream, and so on.

All kinds of coconut delicacies. Picture: Xiaodan & Moon Jingjing & Xiangxiang 1018 / bean and fruit cuisine; pixabay

In addition to direct consumption, as a crop rich in oil, coconut can also be extracted from coconut oil. Although the oil production rate is not as high as that of other real oil crops, it is a good edible oil (palm oil, after all), with the unique aroma of coconut, suitable for making fresh snacks.

White coconut oil. Picture: pixabay

In addition, the uncommon coconut flower is also a high-quality sugar source, which can be made into brown coconut candy with coconut aroma after harvest and refinement. it is not high in sweetness and has a relatively low glycemic index, so it is the preferred seasoning for many special desserts in Southeast Asia. The hard shell of coconut is often processed into a variety of exquisite carvings or utensils, which can be regarded as making the best use of them.

Coconut inflorescences and brown coconut candy. Picture: Filo g è n "& Edi Wibowo / wikimedia

The coconut shell decoration of the western festival of the dead. Picture: wikimedia

By the way, in addition to these practical uses mentioned above, since the pronunciation of "coconut" in the Cantonese dialect area is similar to "Grandpa", coconuts are given to couples who tie the knot in Guangdong as a blessing. It is also a more interesting custom to take the meaning of "having a man and a son".

Behind the headlines ~ egg moment! Have you learned the wonderful use of the coconut of the lynx?

This is the 230th article in the fourth year of the species calendar, from @ Elang, author of the species calendar.

If you like him, you can still follow him.

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