This is a fruit of the Coco de Mer palm. This type of coconut belongs to the Coryphoidae family and Borasseae tribe.
Borasseae consists of 4 subfamilies in Madagascar and 1 subfamily worldwide. These subfamilies inhabit coastal regions and islands around the Indian Ocean. The Borassus subfamily has about 5 genera: 1 genus in Africa, 1 genus in India, Southeast Asia, and Malaysia, 1 genus in New Guinea, and 2 genera in Madagascar.
This type of coconut palm can grow 25 – 34m tall. Its fan-shaped leaves are 7 – 10m long, 4.5m wide, with a leaf stalk 4m long. It has separate male and female trees. Male flowers resemble catkins and can be up to 1m long.
The fruit has a diameter of about 40 – 50cm, weighs 15 – 30kg, and bears the largest seeds among cultivated plants in the world. The fruit takes 6 – 7 years to mature and another 2 years to germinate. This fruit is sometimes referred to by names such as Sea Coconut, Double Coconut, or Seychelles Nut.
The Coco de Mer coconut is the most іmргeѕѕіⱱe among the six characteristic coconut ѕрeсіeѕ in Seychelles because it is the largest flowering plant in Seychelles. It is the most famous cultivated plant and holds three plant records: the largest fruit (weighing 42kg), the heaviest coconut seed in the world (17.6kg), and the largest female flower among palm tree flowers