• Question: Is a coconut a fruit, nut or seed?

    Asked by issy13 to Amy, Sarah, Will on 21 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Will Reynolds

      Will Reynolds answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hi Issy. A coconut is a fruit. It is part of the ‘drupe’ family of fruits that have hard outer shells protecting the flesh of the fruit inside. Like most fruits it contains a seed inside the shell to enable reproduction of the palm tree. Coconuts evolved as a way of dispersing the seeds from a palm tree over long distances by floating across large areas of water. Thanks for youe question.

    • Photo: Sarah Martin

      Sarah Martin answered on 21 Jun 2012:

      Hi issy13!

      It’s a fruit, just like peaches and apricots, which are also from the drupe family. But we don’t eat the fruit, which is green and woody and surrounds the shell of the seed – we eat the white bit inside the seed. And it’s usually only the dry seeds we get in shops in the UK, not whole green coconuts. So it’s the first and last, but not actually a nut, as the name would suggest!
      Here are two drawings showing what’s what in a coconut!

      🙂 Sarah

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