Are coconut palms native to S. Florida?

[Donald Sanders]

Are coconuts native to S.Florida? Are there any naturalized or native stands? In the keys?

Years ago I heard a story that the coconut palms arrived in the Palm Beach area via wreck of a ship carrying a cargo of coconuts. Myth, legend, what's the story? Why are there so many coconut palms in the Palm Beach are?

[TikiRick]

Don,

That's the same urban legend I have always heard as well. I am not certain is there is documentation of it.

I do know that many consider the coconut to be native since it has been here so long...

Others consider only what was here upon Columbus' arrival to be truly native.

Regardless....my favorite palm!!

[Jerry@TreeZoo]

I read the same thing in a book. If it is in a book it has to be true, right?

[bubba]

The wreck of the Spanish brigatine Providencia spilled 20,000 Coconuts harvested from Trinidad on the beach at present day Palm Beach on Jan. 9,1878. It was a 175 ton square rigged brig bound from Havana to Cadiz,Spain. Interestingly, all accounts suggest the weather was perfect and that the Captain and crew intentionally wrecked to collect insurance proceeds.

Beyond the Coconuts, legend has it that the ship was well provisioned with wine and other liquors. A beach party between the ragged settlers and the crew lasted two weeks.

After the party, the settlers planted these Coconuts throughout the island. The pioneers first decided to incorporate under the name of Palm City because of the incredible number of flourishing Coconuts. They found that name to already be taken so they went with their second choice, Palm Beach.

Sometime before 1893,Henry Flagler became enamored with the Island and it's multitude of Coconut palms. He began buying land and extending the railroad. But for the Coconuts, it is likely the Breaker's and other properties would not have been built by Flagler.

Is the Coconut native to Florida? When does anything become native to any place? It is certainly "naturalized".

[JD in the OC]

Bravo Bubba!

Well put.

[Cristóbal]

cocos nucifera is not native palm of florida.

when conquistadores come from spain, they find no cocos nucifera in any place of the americas.

most experts think cocos nucifera is native palm of the south east asia.

see this page for history of cocos nucifera.

COCOS NUCIFERA TIME LINE

Edited May 14, 2009 by Cristóbal

[bubba]

Cristobal, 257 MYBP! Holy Yikes!

[Mark Heath]

Very interesting information! I will say though that christopher Columbus hit Plymoth Rock, nowhere near Florida. Of course he did'nt see any Cocos!!!!!

Ponce De Leon would have been the one to document what was going on here!!!

I thank you for the valueable information, I've allways wondered where the Coconut originated! I did know from seeing that Florida was once under water not too long ago that it could'nt have originated from here, but boy am i glad that it is here and thriving!

I dug a pond and at 20 feet i foung seashells, cool huh??? I am 40ft above sea level, but i am not sure how high Orlando is, i am in between Orlando and the coast.

I really found the info very interesting, thanks again!!!

[chris78]

Very interesting information! I will say though that christopher Columbus hit Plymoth Rock, nowhere near Florida. Of course he did'nt see any Cocos!!!!!

Christopher Columbus NEVER got near Plymoth Rock.... He landed in Hispanioia and always landed somewhere in the Caribbean on all his trips to the new world..... The Pilgrims landed on Plymonth Rock sometime in 1600 hundreds

[Jose Maria]

Here is another coconut palm history.

In Costa Rica, we have varieties growing wild( but were planted by seafarers ... and left alone) on the Atlantic coast, that are different from those on the Pacific side.

The theory is that those from the Pacific came from the Phillipines, and the ones from the Atlantic , came from Africa.

Eventually all coconuts seem to have had their origin in east Asia.

Edited May 15, 2009 by Jose Maria

[JEFF IN MODESTO]

I find it hard to believe that Coconuts are not native to Florida or South America.

Take a look at the beaches, someone in South Africa tosses an ice Chest or soda bottle away... 2 months later it is found on east Florida beach... traveling on the Hurricaine express.

So A nut from a tree in Mid Africa 10,000 years ago won't make..... hard to believe.

Jeff

[epicure3]

I find it hard to believe that Coconuts are not native to Florida or South America.

Take a look at the beaches, someone in South Africa tosses an ice Chest or soda bottle away... 2 months later it is found on east Florida beach... traveling on the Hurricaine express.

So A nut from a tree in Mid Africa 10,000 years ago won't make..... hard to believe.

Jeff

There is a difference b/w native and naturalized. Coconuts are naturalized in S. Florida but are certainly not native. They are native from the point where they originated. Probably SE Asia or even India. The problem is that they are pan-tropical so it's tough to pin point the origin. Same goes for a bunch of other pan-tropicals such as Guavas.

[amazondk]

On Cristobols time line link it does say that the coconut probably originated in the South American part of ancient Gondwanaland. I remember reading a long time ago that coconuts were found on the Colombian Pacific coast by early Spanish explorers. That was way back in college when I was studying cultural Geography and plant dissemination as related to culture. Supposedly some of the people found in the area either looked like they came from Africa or Melanesia as well. This link cites discovery of coconuts in Central America upon Spanish contact and has some other interesting information on plant dipseral, Pre colombian cocos

ancient period: Before 1498 AD

The "Ancient" period is a catch-all for the mostly unrecorded but highly significant and very long time that it took for coconut to evolve (possibly originating in that part of Gondwanaland that is now South America), disseminate by floating (in the Tethys Sea), become domesticated (almost certainly in a now submerged area of Southeast Asia) and then provision the earliest human emigrations (into the Pacific and Indian Oceans).

[amazondk]

I did a bit more looking around on this subject and came up with this piece citing Oviedo the Spanish explorer finding coconuts on the Pacific coast of Central America. It also traces the various coconut strains around the world.

Coconuts around the world

[doubravsky]

Then you can add in the whole "did the polynesians of old make it to Chile?" discussions based on similarities in art found in both areas...

[Palmateer]

One of the many evidences of where the coconut originated is the kind of uses the natives had for this versatile tree and its parts. There was no evidence that the natives of the Americas ever developed any uses for coconuts before the European explorers arrived.

[MASOALA JASON]

The first evolutionary timeline shown for the coconut above looks to be severely outdated. First, this timeline states that members of the Cocoseae had diverged and were radiating throughout the Americas in the Jurrasic, with other lineages being rafted to other areas of the world by Gondwanan breakup. Most research now suggests that the palm family did not emerge until the Lower Cretaceous: Aptian? 112MYABP and most of the main lineages of palms did not emerge until the Early Tertiary. It is now thought that the division of the Cocoseae into its three subtribes, Attaleinae and Bactridinae-Elaeidinae arose sometime in the Paleocene or early Eocene (65-50myabp). The Attaleinae is the most basal or the subtribe that diverged the earliest from the Cocoseae lineage. The Attaleinae is represented by disjunct distributions (Beccariophoenix, Jubeaopsis, Voanioala) which represent an early radiation in the Eocene or Early Oligocene (50-30myabp). Considering that the continents of Africa and South America were widely separated by this time, Gowdwanan vicariance or break-up has now been refuted as an explanation for the disjunct distributions in the Attaleinae. According to the most recent research, the Neotropical location of the tribes supposedly most closely related to Attaleinae (Reinhardtieae and Roystoneeae), the mostly South American distribution of Bactridinae and Elaeidinae, and the the relationships between the genera in the Cocoseae strongly suggest that the Cocoseae emerged as a group in the Americas and all the major disjunctions are the result of three dispersal events. The coconut is most closely related with other South American Attaleinae and could have shared a common ancestor with Parajubaea. Alone, the coconut has dispersal abilities that would have allowed it to radiate throughout tropical regions. Later, as humans discovered the important qualities of the fruit and the plant, they would have further altered the species distribution, further complicating any hope to discover the origin of the coconut. It will be interesting to see if a Neotropical origin for the Coconut is continues to be supported by more and more research.

[epicure3]

So, after all this, I can assume that coconuts are not native to Newport Beach, California?

[gsn]

So, after all this, I can assume that coconuts are not native to Newport Beach, California?

Epi,

I have it from a fairly reliable source that indeed stunted pygmy coconuts are in fact endemic to Newport Beach, CA!

[bubba]

Masoala, You and Cristbol have very interesting information that goes far beyond my limited scope! In doing some research on the history of Lethal Yellowing, I read that the Coconut was introduced to the West Indies by the Conquistadors around 1600 AD. Lethal Yellowing did not present until around 1800 AD. Speculation on it's arrival centers around cattle from India and Africa that were accompanied by plant material(feed) that may have carried the insect responsible for it's spread that arrived in the 1700's AD.

[epicure3]

So, after all this, I can assume that coconuts are not native to Newport Beach, California?

Epi,

I have it from a fairly reliable source that indeed stunted pygmy coconuts are in fact endemic to Newport Beach, CA!

LOL. I'd settle for a stunted cocos. Saves space.

[Moose]

Donald - great question. It sure has recieved alot of responses. Hope all is well with you. I miss our morning coffee talks in

Costa Rica. I sincerly hope you can make it to Brazil! Glad to see you on Palm Talk.

Kindest regards,

Your friend

Ron

[Mark Heath]

Very interesting information! I will say though that christopher Columbus hit Plymoth Rock, nowhere near Florida. Of course he did'nt see any Cocos!!!!!

Christopher Columbus NEVER got near Plymoth Rock.... He landed in Hispanioia and always landed somewhere in the Caribbean on all his trips to the new world..... The Pilgrims landed on Plymonth Rock sometime in 1600 hundreds

It apparently has been a long time since i graduated!!! Too many beers ago!! I will say though that Christopher

Columbus unlike Ponce de leon was not known for reporting vegatation, at least in great detail. Ponce was a tree-hugger like us, reporting many of the plants that he had seen.

I do not think that the Cocos was native here, but again i will say that i am happy that it grows and thrives here!!!!

Mark

[Moose]

Semi-Native

Edited May 24, 2018 by Moose