The Coconut

The Coconut: Phylogeny, Origins, and Spread comprehensively covers the botany, phylogeny, origins, and spread of the coconut palm. The coconut is used primarily for its oil, fiber, and as an article of food, including its tender-nut water. Until the 1950s, coconut oil used to rank first in the world in production and international trade among all the vegetable oils. Since then, lower-cost sources such as the African oil palm, soybean, canola, and others have overtaken the coconut in oil production and trade. The coconut, Cocos nucifera L. (Arecaceae), is a dominant part of the littoral vegetation across the tropics. In addition to discussing the origins of the coconut and its use as a crop, the book covers the resurgence in the use of the coconut in food, pharmaceuticals, and nutraceuticals.

• Presents the phylogeny, origins, and spread of the coconut
• Explores the broad-based use of coconut from basic food source to nutraceuticals
• Provides ethnobotanical information on cultivation and use of this tropical crop

Advanced graduate students and researchers in biology and agriculture; also, technical and development officials, extension staff, and policy planners

• Preface
• Abbreviations and Definitions
• Geological Timescale
• Timeline: Coconut Phylogeny Vis-à-vis Plate Tectonics/ Continental Drift
• Introduction
• Chapter 1. The Coconut in the World
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Contributions of Coconuts to the Food Economy
• Chapter 2. Early History, Lore, and Economic Botany
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Ethnobotany of Palms
  • 3. Pacific Ocean Islands
  • 4. Economic Botany of the Coconut
  • 5. Indian Ocean
  • 6. Atlantic Ocean
• Chapter 3. Taxonomy and Intraspecific Classification
  • 1. History of Coconut Taxonomy
  • 2. Classification of Tribe Cocoseae
  • 3. Character Primitiveness and Progression in the Palm Family
  • 4. Intraspecific Variation in the Coconut
• Chapter 4. Paleobotany and Archeobotany
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Fossils From New Zealand
  • 3. Fossils From India
  • 4. Fossils From Other Regions
  • 5. Paleopalynology
  • 6. Archeobotany
• Chapter 5. Phylogeny
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Moore’s Classification
  • 3. Phylogeny of the Cocosoid/Cocoseae Palms
  • 4. Commentary
• Chapter 6. Biogeography
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Age and Lineage Differentiation of Palms
  • 3. Experimental Studies
• Chapter 7. Origins: Past Observations
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Review of Literature
  • 3. Origin of the Pacific Ocean
  • 4. Atoll Origins and Ecology
  • 5. Peopling Polynesia Vis-à-vis the Food Production System
  • 6. Natural Dissemination of the Coconut
  • 7. New Guinea as an Independent Center of Agricultural Origins
• Chapter 8. Origins
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. Place of Origin
  • 3. The Ancestral Species
  • 4. Time of Origin
  • 5. Mode of Evolution of the Coconut
• Chapter 9. Spread
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. For and Against Natural Dispersals
  • 3. From the Old World to the New World
  • 4. Coconuts on the Pacific Coast of America
  • 5. Spread of the Coconut in South America
• Chapter 10. Afterword: Does the Coconut Have a Future?
  • 1. Introduction
  • 2. R&D Efforts for Transforming the Coconut Ideotype to Face the Newer Challenges of the 21st Century
• References
• Index