Deep history of coconuts decoded (Colonization of the Americas?)

Washington University in St. Louis ^ | June 24, 2011 | Diana Lutz

[decimon]

Written in coconut DNA are two origins of cultivation, several ancient trade routes, and the history of the colonization of the Americas

The coconut (the fruit of the palm Cocos nucifera) is the Swiss Army knife of the plant kingdom; in one neat package it provides a high-calorie food, potable water, fiber that can be spun into rope, and a hard shell that can be turned into charcoal. What’s more, until it is needed for some other purpose it serves as a handy flotation device.

No wonder people from ancient Austronesians to Captain Bligh pitched a few coconuts aboard before setting sail. (The mutiny of the Bounty is supposed to have been triggered by Bligh’s harsh punishment of the theft of coconuts from the ship’s store.)

So extensively is the history of the coconut interwoven with the history of people traveling that Kenneth Olsen, a plant evolutionary biologist, didn’t expect to find much geographical structure to coconut genetics when he and his colleagues set out to examine the DNA of more than 1300 coconuts from all over the world.

“I thought it would be mostly a mish-mash,” he says, thoroughly homogenized by humans schlepping coconuts with them on their travels.

He was in for a surprise. It turned out that there are two clearly differentiated populations of coconuts, a finding that strongly suggests the coconut was brought under cultivation in two separate locations, one in the Pacific basin and the other in the Indian Ocean basin. What’s more, coconut genetics also preserve a record of prehistoric trade routes and of the colonization of the Americas.

>

Far from being a mish-mash, coconut DNA preserves a record of human cultivation, voyages of exploration, trade and colonization.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 6/24/2011. Thanks decimon. I got wondering about the origin of coconut cultivation, did a web search, found the article, then checked the FR topics, and found A) it had already been posted, B) I'd alread seen it at that time, and C) it had been pinged, but not added to the keyword. The reason for my sudden interest is, that North Sentinel island murder (the latest one, by the inbred natives) -- they have coconut trees on the island and use them in ways similar to everyone else in that part of the world.

[SunkenCiv]

http://www.google.com/search?q=coconut+cultivation+history

[TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig]

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://m.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DTbgv8PkO9eo&ved=0ahUKEwiri4bRlufeAhVJilQKHZEMDxQQ3ywIRzAC&usg=AOvVaw2q9Hw_qC-SOEef0fVZqA3D

[colorado tanker]

I just love . . . coconuts.

[central_va]

I like D cup coconuts.

[colorado tanker]

Ah, more of a Marilyn than a Mary Ann kind of guy. :-))

[SunkenCiv]

I wanted a link to the old song, but apparently there was a lot of gender confusion then too.

http://www.google.com/search?q=lovely+bunch+of+coconuts+1944+site:youtube.com