Free Republic

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

An international team led by National Taiwan University forestry professor Chung Kuo-fang... analyzed the chloroplast DNA sequences of 604 paper mulberry samples collected from East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Pacific islands, and found that a specific haplotype, cp-17, which originated in Taiwan, is predominant across the region. It is assumed that paper mulberry, a common East Asian tree used for making paper, was transported across the Pacific by Austronesian people, who used the tree to make bark cloth, Chung said... Paper mulberry is a dioecious species, meaning that the male and female reproductive organs are found on separate plants. Most...