Iconic tropical coastal palm reaching 30 m, providing — from a single tree — drinking water, food, edible oil, roofing thatch, leaf weaving, structural timber, and the coir fibre stripped from the husk of the fruit.
Hardiness ratings
| System | Rating | Temperature range | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| USDA hardiness zone | Zone 10–12 | −1.1 °C to 15.6 °C | Plant tolerates down to this zone |
| RHS hardiness rating | H1c | 5 °C to 10 °C | Plant needs at least this level of cold tolerance |
| Canadian plant hardiness zone | Zone 9 | −1 °C and warmer | Plant tolerates down to this zone |
| Australian (ANBG) zone | Zone 5–7 | 5 °C and warmer | Plant tolerates down to this zone |
Growing notes
- Coir fibre — the brown husk fibre stripped from the fruit by retting in salt water for months — used for matting, rope, brush bristles, and increasingly horticultural growing medium
- Single tree provides drinking water (young coconut), food (mature kernel), oil, sugar (palm sugar from the inflorescence sap), leaves for thatch and weaving, and trunk timber — among the most useful single plants known to humanity
- Salt tolerant and wind tolerant — the defining tree of tropical Pacific, Indian Ocean and Caribbean coasts
- Strictly tropical — needs warm humid frost-free coastal or near-coastal conditions
- Not reliably hardy outdoors in Canada — Canadian zone values shown represent the system maximum and do not imply garden cultivation north of the warmest coastal pockets.
Categories
Related plants
Cross-check Coconut palm against your zones