Editing Coconut (section)

== Taxonomy ==
===Phylogeny===
<!--"Cocos intertrappeansis" redirects here.-->
[[File:Miocene coconut.jpg|thumb|Fossil ''[[Cocos zeylandica]]'' from the [[Miocene]] of [[New Zealand]], approximately the size of a [[strawberry]] at {{convert|3.5|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} long|alt=Small blackened fossil]]
The [[evolutionary history]] and [[fossil]] distribution of ''Cocos nucifera'' and other members of the tribe [[Cocoseae]] is more ambiguous than modern-day dispersal and distribution, with its ultimate origin and pre-human dispersal still unclear. There are currently two major viewpoints on the origins of the genus ''Cocos'', one in the Indo-Pacific, and another in South America.<ref name="Srivastava2014">{{cite journal |last1=Srivastava |first1=Rashmi |last2=Srivastava |first2=Gaurav |date=2014 |title=Fossil fruit of ''Cocos'' L. (Arecaceae) from Maastrichtian-Danian sediments of central India and its phytogeographical significance |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261107861 |journal=[[Acta Palaeobotanica]]|volume=54 |issue=1 |pages=67–75 |doi=10.2478/acpa-2014-0003 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name="Nayar2016">{{cite book |author=Nayar, N. Madhavan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pWEuDAAAQBAJ |title=The Coconut: Phylogeny, Origins, and Spread |publisher=[[Academic Press]] |year=2016 |isbn=978-0-12-809779-3 |pages=51–66}}</ref> The vast majority of ''Cocos''-like fossils have been recovered generally from only two regions in the world: [[New Zealand]] and west-central [[India]]. However, like most palm fossils, ''Cocos''-like fossils are still putative, as they are usually difficult to identify.<ref name="Nayar2016" />
The earliest ''Cocos''-like fossil to be found was ''[[Cocos zeylandica]]'', a fossil species described as small fruits, around {{convert|3.5|cm|in|frac=4|abbr=on}} × {{convert|1.3|to|2.5|cm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}} in size, recovered from the [[Miocene]] (~23 to 5.3 million years ago) of [[New Zealand]] in 1926. Since then, numerous other fossils of similar fruits were recovered throughout New Zealand from the [[Eocene]], [[Oligocene]], and possibly the [[Holocene]]. But research on them is still ongoing to determine their phylogenetic affinities.<ref name="Nayar2016" /><ref name="Conran2015">{{cite journal|publisher=The [[Linnean Society]]|last1=Conran |first1=John G. |last2=Bannister |first2=Jennifer M. |last3=Lee |first3=Daphne E. |last4=Carpenter |first4=Raymond J. |last5=Kennedy |first5=Elizabeth M. |last6=Reichgelt |first6=Tammo |last7=Fordyce |first7=R. Ewan |date=2015 |title=An update of monocot macrofossil data from New Zealand and Australia |journal=[[Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society]]|volume=178 |issue=3 |pages=394–420 |doi=10.1111/boj.12284 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Endt & Hayward (1997) have noted their resemblance to members of the South American genus ''[[Parajubaea]]'', rather than ''Cocos'', and propose a South American origin.<ref name="Nayar2016" /><ref name="Endt1997">{{cite journal |last1=Endt |first1=D. |last2=Hayward |first2=B. |date=1997 |title=Modern relatives of New Zealand's fossil coconuts from high altitude South America |journal=[[New Zealand Geological Society Newsletter]]|volume=113 |pages=67–70}}</ref><ref name="Hayward2012">{{cite journal |last1=Hayward |first1=Bruce |date=2012 |title=Fossil Oligocene coconut from Northland |journal=[[Geocene]]|volume=7 |issue=13}}</ref> Conran ''et al.'' (2015), however, suggests that their diversity in New Zealand indicate that they evolved endemically, rather than being introduced to the islands by long-distance dispersal.<ref name="Conran2015" /> In west-central India, numerous fossils of ''Cocos''-like fruits, leaves, and stems have been recovered from the [[Deccan Traps]]. They include [[morphotaxa]] like ''[[Palmoxylon sundaran]]'', ''[[Palmoxylon insignae]]'', and ''[[Palmocarpon cocoides]]''. ''Cocos''-like fossils of fruits include ''[[Cocos intertrappeansis]]'', ''[[Cocos pantii]]'', and ''[[Cocos sahnii]]''. They also include fossil fruits that have been tentatively identified as modern ''Cocos nucifera''. These include two specimens named ''[[Cocos palaeonucifera]]'' and ''[[Cocos binoriensis]]'', both dated by their authors to the [[Maastrichtian]]–[[Danian]] of the early [[Tertiary]] (70 to 62 million years ago). ''C. binoriensis'' has been claimed by their authors to be the earliest known fossil of ''Cocos nucifera''.<ref name="Srivastava2014" /><ref name="Nayar2016" /><ref name="Singh2016">{{cite journal |last1=Singh |first1=Hukam |last2=Shukla |first2=Anumeha |last3=Mehrotra |first3=R.C. |date=2016 |title=A Fossil Coconut Fruit from the Early Eocene of Gujarat |url=http://www.geosocindia.org/index.php/jgsi/article/view/88633 |journal=[[Journal of Geological Society of India]]|volume=87 |issue=3 |pages=268–270 |doi=10.1007/s12594-016-0394-9 |bibcode=2016JGSI...87..268S |access-date=10 January 2019 |s2cid=131318482}}</ref>

Outside of New Zealand and India, only two other regions have reported ''Cocos''-like fossils, namely [[Australia]] and [[Colombia]]. In Australia, a ''Cocos''-like fossil fruit, measuring {{convert|10|x|9.5|cm|in|frac=8|abbr=on}}, were recovered from the Chinchilla Sand Formation dated to the latest [[Pliocene]] or basal [[Pleistocene]]. Rigby (1995) assigned them to modern ''Cocos nucifera'' based on its size.<ref name="Srivastava2014" /><ref name="Nayar2016" /> In Colombia, a single ''Cocos''-like fruit was recovered from the [[Paleocene|middle to late Paleocene]] [[Cerrejón Formation]]. The fruit, however, was compacted in the fossilization process and it was not possible to determine if it had the diagnostic three pores that characterize members of the tribe [[Cocoseae]]. Nevertheless, Gomez-Navarro ''et al.'' (2009), assigned it to ''Cocos'' based on the size and the ridged shape of the fruit.<ref name="Gomez-Navarro2009">{{cite journal |last1=Gomez-Navarro |first1=Carolina |last2=Jaramillo |first2=Carlos |last3=Herrera |first3=Fabiany |last4=Wing |first4=Scott L. |last5=Callejas |first5=Ricardo |date=2009 |title=Palms (Arecaceae) from a Paleocene rainforest of northern Colombia |journal=[[American Journal of Botany]]|volume=96 |issue=7 |pages=1300–1312 |doi=10.3732/ajb.0800378 |pmid=21628279}}</ref>

Further complicating measures to determine the evolutionary history of ''Cocos'' is the genetic diversity present within ''C. nucifera'' as well as its relatedness to other palms. Phylogenetic evidence supports the closest relatives of ''Cocos'' being either ''[[Syagrus (plant)|Syagrus]]'' or ''[[Attalea (plant)|Attalea]]'', both of which are found in South America. However, ''Cocos'' is not thought to be indigenous to South America, and the highest genetic diversity is present in Asian ''Cocos'', indicating that at least the modern species ''Cocos nucifera'' is native to there''.'' In addition, fossils of potential ''Cocos'' ancestors have been recovered from both Colombia and India. In order to resolve this enigma, a 2014 study proposed that the ancestors of ''Cocos'' had likely originated on the [[Caribbean]] coast of what is now Colombia, and during the [[Eocene]] the ancestral ''Cocos'' performed a long-distance dispersal across the [[Atlantic Ocean]] to [[North Africa]]. From here, island-hopping via [[Atoll|coral atolls]] lining the [[Tethys Ocean|Tethys Sea]], potentially boosted by ocean currents at the time, would have proved crucial to dispersal, eventually allowing ancestral coconuts to reach India. The study contended that an adaptation to coral atolls would explain the prehistoric and modern distributions of ''Cocos'', would have provided the necessary evolutionary pressures, and would account for morphological factors such as a thick husk to protect against ocean degradation and provide a moist medium in which to germinate on sparse atolls.<ref name="Harries-2014">{{Cite journal |last1=Harries |first1=Hugh C. |last2=Clement |first2=Charles R. |date=2014 |title=Long-distance dispersal of the coconut palm by migration within the coral atoll ecosystem|journal=Annals of Botany|language=en |volume=113 |issue=4 |pages=565–570 |doi=10.1093/aob/mct293 |pmc=3936586 |pmid=24368197 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

=== Etymology ===
The name ''coconut'' is derived from the 16th-century [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] word ''[[Coco (folklore)|coco]]'', meaning 'head' or 'skull' after the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dalgado |first=Sebastião |url=https://archive.org/details/glossriolusoas00dalguoft/page/n363/mode/2up |title=Glossário luso-asiático |publisher=Coimbra, Imprensa da Universidade |year=1919 |volume=1 |page=291}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/coco |title=coco  |website=Online Etymology Dictionary|language=en |access-date=3 May 2020}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/coconut |title=coconut |website=Online Etymology Dictionary|access-date=3 May 2020 }}</ref><ref name="Losada">{{cite book |last= Losada |first= Fernando Díez |year= 2004 |title= La tribuna del idioma |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RxGv6tMX2QcC&pg=PT481 |language= es |publisher= Editorial Tecnologica de CR |page= 481 |isbn=978-9977-66-161-2}}</ref> ''Coco'' and ''coconut'' apparently came from 1521 encounters by [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] and [[Spanish people|Spanish]] explorers with [[Pacific Islander]]s, with the coconut shell reminding them of a [[ghost]] or [[witch]]<!-- Is "witch" said in Losada and Figueiredo citations? --> in Portuguese folklore called ''[[Coco (folklore)|coco]]'' (also ''côca'').<ref name="Losada" /><ref>{{cite book |last= Figueiredo |first= Cândido |year= 1940 |title= Pequeno Dicionário da Lingua Portuguesa |language= pt |location= Lisbon |publisher= Livraria Bertrand }}</ref> In the West it was originally called ''nux indica'', a name used by [[Marco Polo]] in 1280 while in [[Sumatra]]. He took the term from the Arabs, who called it جوز هندي ''jawz hindī'', translating to 'Indian nut'.<ref name="Elzabroek">{{Cite book |last=Elzebroek |first=A. T. G. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YvU1XnUVxFQC&pg=PA186 |title=Guide to Cultivated Plants |date=2008 |publisher=CABI |isbn=978-1-84593-356-2 |pages=186–192 |language=en}}</ref> ''Thenga'', its [[Tamil language|Tamil]]/[[Malayalam]] name, was used in the detailed description of coconut found in ''[[Itinerario]]'' by [[Ludovico di Varthema]] published in 1510 and also in the later ''[[Hortus Indicus Malabaricus]]''.<ref name="Grimwood1">[[#Grimwood|Grimwood]], p. 1.</ref>

[[Carl Linnaeus]] first wanted to name the coconut genus ''Coccus'' from [[latin]]izing the Portuguese word ''coco'', because he saw works by other botanists in middle of the 17th century use the name as well. He consulted the catalogue ''Herbarium Amboinense'' by [[Georg Eberhard Rumphius]] where Rumphius said that ''coccus'' was a [[homonym]] of ''coccum'' and ''coccus'' from [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|el|κόκκος}} ''kokkos'' meaning "grain"<ref name="Liddel">{{cite web|url=https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0057%3Aentry%3Dko%2Fkkos |title=κόκκος |last1=Liddell |first1=Henry George |last2=Scott |first2=Robert |work=A Greek-English Lexicon |publisher=[[Perseus Digital Library]]|date= 1940 }}</ref> or "berry", but [[Roman people|Romans]] identified ''coccus'' with "[[Kermes (insect)|kermes insects]]"; Rumphius preferred the word ''cocus'' as a replacement. However, the word ''cocus'' could also mean "cook" like ''coquus'' in Latin,<ref>{{cite dictionary |url= https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0059:entry=coquus |title= cŏquus |last1= Lewis |first1= Charlton T. |last2= Short |first2= Charles |dictionary= A Latin Dictionary |edition= |publisher=[[Perseus Digital Library]]|date = 1879 }}</ref> so Linnaeus chose ''Cocos'' directly from the Portuguese word ''coco'' instead.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Furtado |first1=C. X. |title=On The Etymology Of The Word Cocos |journal=[[Principes (journal)|Principes]]|date=1964 |volume=8 |pages=107–112 |url=https://palms.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/v8n3p107-112.pdf |via= International Palm Society |access-date=5 November 2022}}</ref>

The [[specific name (botany)|specific name]] ''nucifera'' is derived from the [[Latin]] words ''nux'' (nut) and ''fera'' (bearing), for 'nut-bearing'.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Flower – Nelumbo nucifera |url=http://bsienvis.nic.in/files/National%20Flower_Nelumbo%20nucifera_26.9.14.pdf |access-date=19 February 2021 |publisher=ENVIS Resource Partner on Biodiversity}}</ref>