The cradle of the coconut: Emilio Chiovenda’s ‘La Culla del Cocco’ (1921–1923) revisited

Abstract

Questions about the origin and dispersal of the coconut palm have remained unsettled for centuries and opinions are still divided today. Two centuries ago an expedition of European naturalists in Brazil favoured a South American origin and dispersal across the Pacific to Asia, presumably by people in small boats. One hundred years after the Brazil expedition coconut oil had become a profitable item of worldwide trade and, for that reason, of interest to science. A strong case was made for a coral island origin. Unfortunately, the detailed account was not written in English and was published in two parts in two years and in a journal that ceased publication for two decades. Our intention is to encourage readers to make a translation of ‘La Culla del Cocco’ and to crowd fund a commemorative centenary before 2023.

Keywords:

• Coconut palm
• origin
• coral atoll
• dispersal
• floating

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to Dr Riccardo Maria Baldini for the invitation to celebrate, to his staff in the Centro Studi Erbario Tropicale for their interest, and to the administrators in the Dipartimento di Biologia at the Università di Firenze for support for travel and subsistence costs.

Notes

1. Despite the name, only a small number of coconuts have ever been planted on the American Pacific coast Cocos island which is dominated by the Euterpe palm that, together with the large, 300 foot (90 m) cliffs that ring much of the coast, make it unsuitable for coconut palms to self-establish.