coconut palm

A mature coconut palm. "Cocos nucifera is found throughout the tropics, where it is interwoven into the lives of the local people. It is particularly important in the low islands of the Pacific where, in the absence of land-based natural resources, it provides almost all the necessities of life—food, drink, oil, medicine, fiber, timber, thatch, mats, fuel, and
domestic utensils. For good reason, it has been called the “tree of heaven” and “tree of life.” Today it remains an important economic and subsistence crop in many small Pacific island states. Coconut is believed to have its origins in the Indo-Malayan region, from whence it spread throughout the tropics. Today it has wide pantropical distribution."