rorocando

@rorocando22 · 16 Sep 2021

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Coconut tree

#emblematictreedestadozulia It is a monoecious palm tree with a single trunk, often inclined, 10-20 meters high and 50 centimetres thick at the base and tapering towards the top. At the apex it has a group of leaves that protect the only point of growth or terminal bud that the plant possesses.
As the trunk does not have thick meristematic tissue, however variations in water availability induce changes in the diameter of the trunk.
Height growth depends on ecological conditions, the age of the plant and the type of coconut tree.
-Leaves. They are pinnate, 1.5-4 meters long, with leathery leaflets 50-70 cm long, yellowish green in color.
Under favorable environmental conditions a giant growing adult plant emits between 12 to 14 leaves per year, while the dwarf can emit up to 18 leaves in the same period.
The crown is not very wide and consists of up to 30 arched leaves
-Flowers. It has paniculate inflorescences that grow in the axils of the lower leaves, protected by a bract called spath up to 70 centimeters in length and develops in 3 or 4 months.
The flowering time is from November to March and the fruits take up to 13 months to ripen.
-Pollination. Can be anemophilic or entomophilic. In giant coconut trees, male flowers open before female flowers are receptive, which contributes to cross-pollination.
In the case of dwarf coconut trees it is simultaneous, therefore there is a high percentage of self-fertilization.
-Fruit. It is a drupe, covered with fibers, 20-30 centimeters in length with an ovoid shape, and can weigh up to 2.5 kilograms.
It consists of a yellowish, leathery and fibrous outer shell (exocarp) 4 or 5 centimeters thick in the form of hairs strongly attached to the nut; a thin interlayer (mesocarp) and a harder (endocarp) having three holes close in a triangular arrangement, located at the apex, two closed and the other facing the rootlet of the embryo.
It is vulnerable to small pressure and where water can spill before breaking the fruit peel, and that is where the seed is found.
The white pulp is edible containing in its central cavity a sugary liquid known as coconut water and which in the amount of approximately 300 grams is enclosed inside the fruit.
-Roots. The root system is fasciculated. The primary roots are responsible for the fixation of the plant and the absorption of water.
Tertiary roots are derived from secondary ones, and are the true extractors of nutrients.
Active roots are located within a radius of two meters from the trunk, at a depth of 0.2 to 0.8 meters, depending on the effective depth.