Coconut Floral Biology Inflorescence The Female Flower The Male Flower The Pollen The Fruit

Inflorescence Inflorescence of the coconut are formed in the axils of every leaf of a bearing tree. Early workers on the coconut believed that inflorescences were formed in the axils of very third leaf. It is true that some axils fail to throw out inflorescences because the latter become abortive. But the production of such inflorescences has not been observed to have any definite relation with others. The coconut is a monoecious plant producing male and female flowers separately on the same tree. There are also palms which produce either completely male or female flowers. The tendency to produce completely male inflorescences is frequently observed when the palm produces the spadix for the first time in its life. Sometimes, this tendency is also manifested by trees which are given rest after a prolonged period of tapping for toddy. There is also considerable variation in the frequency of bearing such inflorescences. Some trees will produce their second or third inflorescence with female flowers in addition to male flowers, while others will not bear female flowers even in the sixth inflorescence. The coconut produces inflorescences in continuous succession. If one succeeds the other rapidly, or if the flowering period of each is sufficiently prolonged, it happens that before an inflorescence completes its flowering phase, the next one might be in flowering, bringing in chances of overlapping and consequent inter-spadix pollination. This frequently happens in dwarf palms and sometimes during the months of May, September and October in tall palms. The inflorescence appears at first in the axil of a leaf as a pear shaped flat structure. At this time, it is completely protected by two sheaths and is collectively known as the spadix. The outer sheath is thick and fibrous while the inner one is more yellow and often fibrous and somewhat flat in nature. In course of time, when the spadix is full grown, it becomes more cylindrical especially in the upper half and the distension of the inflorescence within causes great pressure on the walls of the spathe. The inflorescence consists of many flower bearing ramifications or spikeltes situated on a central axis or a peduncle. Its size varies from 0.75 m to 2 m in length depending upon the individual palm. When the inflorescence is enclosed within the spathe, the branches lie close to the main axis and the whole is so tightly packed that it is quite impossible for any of the individual flowers to open before the spathe splits. Sometimes, a few flowers open as soon as the spathe splits. As other times, none of the flowers open until the branches of the inflorescence have spread out. Each branch is fringed and crowded with numerous male flowers from the tip downwards and bears lower down one or more female flower, all the flowers being sessile or sub-sessile. Top The Female Flower Unlike the male flowers, the female flowers are comparatively few in number in an inflorescence. They may vary from 0 to 300 in each spadix depending on conditions prevailing, viz., nature of the tree, cultivation, manuring, season of the year, age of bearing, etc. At the time of opening of the spathe, the female flower is a small spherical body, about 1.3 cm in diameter with great resemblance to a small nut and is popularly known as a button The female flowers, like males, consist of six floral leaves which are thicker, imbricately arranged and tightly folded over the inner parts of the flower completely enveloping the pistil. From the tip of the pistil, there extend downwards three ridges which make the whole ovary look globosely three-sided, each side being provided at its tip with a groove. These three grooves meet in the centre of the apex and form the stigma. After the inflorescence opens, and before fertilization takes place, the mass of fibrous tissue continues to increase in size and ultimately forces apart the floral leaves disclosing only its rounded upper surface which is surmounted by a white nipple. This nipple is marked by three equidistant grooves which meet at its apex and thus divide it into three triangular sections. When the female flower is ripe, these three segments separate and stand erect as three teeth, exposing the stigmatic surface on which the pollen is to fall in order that the flower may be fertilized. These three teeth constitute the stigma. Normally it is impossible for fertilization to occur before the stigma is ripe and this does not happen until long after the opening of the inflorescence. When the fertilization is complete, the stigma ultimately turns brown and the tissues around it collapse, forming a small black, more or less circular area containing three shrivelled teeth at the apex of the young fruit. The six floral leaves increase slightly in size, and form the whorl of perianth leaves which persist at the base of the fruit till it matures and dries. The number of female flowers The number of female flowers in the inflorescence is variable. There is a difference in the production of female flowers among the trees as well as among the inflorescence of the same tree. The variation among the trees of the same age and receiving the same treatment is genetical. The average number of female flowers per tree in the group "good" is about 151, for the group "medium" about 120 and for the group "poor" only 41. Seasonal variation in the production of female flowers There is much variation in the number of female flowers produced during the different months. This difference is partly due to the differences in the number of spadices opened in the different months. But when the average number of female flowers per spadix are compared, similar differences are also noticeable. It is generally high during the months of March to May, the highest being in May. Top The Male Flower The male flowers exceed the female ones in the same sapdix and may vary from a few hundreds to thousands depending on the number of ramifications in the spadix and the length of the flower bearing region. They are the first to open. Each male flower has six yellow perianth or floral leaves arranged in two whorls, the inner three alternating with the outer. The inner perianth parts are more than three times the size of the outer ones. Enclosed in this floral envelope, three are six hammer shaped stamens, which yield large quantities of powdery yellow pollen. In the centre of each flower, there is a rudimentary or abortive pistil which divides at its apex into three teeth, each bearing a nectar gland, the nectar of which attracts ants, bees and other insects. Rarely this rudimentary pistil is absent. The flowers on the upper spikes of the inflorescence and those situated on the sides of the female flowers are the first to open and commence opening from the apex of the spike and extends downwards. Sometimes few flowers may open out of order. The flowers bloom throughout the day, most of them blooming from 8 A.M to 10 A.M. Top The Pollen When the anthers are fully mature, the pollen sacs burst along two longitudinal slits which coincide with the partitions of the pollen sacs and shed their pollen before the opening of the male flower. The pollen grains are spherical and smooth when very fresh. On exposure for a few seconds, they turn ellipsoidal with a longitudinal groove in the middle and they measure about 0.063 mm in length and 0.020 mm in breadth at the centre. In the mature pollen grain, there are three nuclei one of which is larger than the remaining two. Top The Fruit The fruit of the coconut, botanically known as a fibrous drupe and popularly the 'nut', consists internally of the endospermous kernel with the embryo embedded in it and externally protected by the fruit coat known as the pericarp which consists of three distinct and well defined regions, viz., the exocarp or epicarp, the mesocarp and the endocarp. The outermost region of the fruit coat is the exocarp (or epicarp) which consists of a tough smooth and hard fibrous skin where as in the ripe fruit it assumes green, red, yellow or brown colour. In the young fruit, particularly until the fruit is well devleoped, it varies in colour depending on the general colour of the parent tree. It may assume various shades, viz., bright red, pale yellow, pale green, red brown, brown green or dark green. Immediately below this is the fleshy portion known as the mesocarp which in the young fruit is astringent and in rare instances sweet and edible. When the nut develops and matures, this region turns fibrous. The thickness of this region is variable ranging from 2 cm to 15 cm. Below the fibrous covering is the endocarp which when the fruit matures, develops into the shell. This hard shell in the cross-section of the fruit is more or less triangular in shape and has three ridges on the outside which alternate with the ridges on the fruit. At the basal end of the fruit where it is attached to the fruit stalk, there are three eyes, one on each carpel, normally two of which are quite hard and the third one soft. One side of the triangular cross-section or the carpel of the fruit is narrower than the other two sides. On an examination of the nut, it is found that one of the three segments has a wider angle than the other two. It is in this widest segment that the soft or germinating eye is situated which is easily recognised on the nut as it is bigger than the other two. The fibre over this eye is also softer and generally less compact than elsewhere. The seed or the kernel or meat of the fruit is well protected by the hard shell and lies immediately below it. Placed between the meat and the shell, is the seed coat which is firmly attached to the meat. The meat in the ordinary nut is about 13mm thick, but occasionally the thickness may go up to 20mm. In dwarf and ornamental varieties on the other hand, the kernel is generally very much thinner. At the apex of the nut, immediately below the soft eye and embedded in the kernel lies a peg-like body, the germ or embryo, which, on germination, commences to grow and forces in way through the soft eye. Within the kernel is a cavity which in the unripe fruit is completely filled with the liquid popularly known as 'coconut water'. As the fruit ripens, this water gets very much reduced filling the cavity only partially. When stored after harvest, the water is completely absorbed in about five months. Top

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