Coco-de-mer  (Lodoicea maldivica)

Biology

Coco-de-mer palms take 25 years to reach maturity and start bearing fruit, and the fruits themselves reach maturity after a further 7 years (2). Once fallen to the forest floor, the fruit wall disintegrates over 6 months and germination takes another 2 years (2). Coco-de-mer flowers are visited by a variety of different animals such as bees, slugs and geckos (3) with pollination carried out by small insects such as flies (6).

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