Meet the World's Largest Nut, the Coco De Mer

"The coco de mer is a much-loved cultural and botanical classic of Seychelles," says Katy Beaver, a Seychelles plant specialist who has spent years researching the rare palm. The coco de mer, also known as the sea coconut or double coconut, is a curious case of island gigantism that contains the world's biggest and heaviest seeds.

Since germination takes several months, SIF workers can check in on the planted seeds every six months and see how they're doing. "Not only have we registered the parcel number from the cadastral [a precise map of ownership], but we've also mentioned the GPS coordinates of where each seed is planted," Fleischer-Dogley says. If a nut doesn't germinate, we will fix it if the landowner requests it."

Because of the plant's slow growth rate, not all of the licensed property owners can see a coco de mer palm mature during their lifetime.

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