# Do palm trees grow from seeds?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 17, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105 "2018-10-17T20:11:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2018, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/1 "2018-10-17T20:11:43Z")
We have five baby palm trees that just popped up in our side yard. We have no idea where they came from. There are lots of squirrels in the neighborhood, could they have buried palm seeds? Is that where palm trees come from?
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2018, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/2 "2018-10-17T20:20:59Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#):
>
> We have five baby palm trees that just popped up in our side yard. We have no idea where they came from. There are lots of squirrels in the neighborhood, could they have buried palm seeds? Is that where palm trees come from?
They do grow from seeds.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2018, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/3 "2018-10-17T20:25:49Z")
Oh, yes!
They are weeds out here.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/4 "2018-10-17T20:47:46Z")
I know that at least some palm trees grow from seeds, but that those seeds are definitely not carried by squirrels.
(African swallows, though, maybe)
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2018, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/5 "2018-10-17T20:51:03Z")
We have some palm trees in our neighborhood. There are some varieties (“jelly palm”?) that produce copious amounts of small fruits. I imagine birds will distribute these by way of beak or digestive tract. I have had a few baby palms spring-up in my yard as a result.
Also, in case you did not know, dates come from palm trees. The dates we eat all contain a pit (seed).
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2018, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/6 "2018-10-17T20:57:35Z")
> [@snowthx](#):
>
> We have some palm trees in our neighborhood. There are some varieties (“jelly palm”?) that produce copious amounts of small fruits. I imagine birds will distribute these by way of beak or digestive tract. I have had a few baby palms spring-up in my yard as a result.
Right. Lots of palms have plum or berry-like fruits that are eaten by birds, which then regurgitate or pass the seed through the digestive tract. If these palms sprouted away from any other palms, that’s most likely how they got there. (Squirrrels bury seeds, but depending on the species birds may be more likely.
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### Author:  [@Sloe\_Moe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sloe_Moe)
#### Post date: [October 17, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/7 "2018-10-17T22:56:33Z")
Not from the nuts?
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/8 "2018-10-18T00:40:58Z")
> [@Sloe\_Moe](#):
>
> Not from the nuts?
Coconuts are only one out of thousands of species of palm.
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/9 "2018-10-18T01:08:46Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Coconuts are only one out of thousands of species of palm.
The coconut is not a nut. It’s a drupe.
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/10 "2018-10-18T01:25:45Z")
Just the other day I saw a squirrel come out of a palm tree with a palm seed in its mouth and bury it. I had never seen this happen before with any type of seed or nut.
To be precise, the squirrel didn’t actually bury the seed so much as wedge it under a boulder and cover it with grass and leaves. But I’m still counting it.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/11 "2018-10-18T01:32:57Z")
> [@Terminus\_Est](#):
>
> The coconut is not a nut. It’s a drupe.
In common English, it’s a nut. It’s only a drupe if you are having a technical conversation with a botanist (or if you are being deliberately pedantic.;))
Tell someone you want to buy a cocodrupe and see how far it gets you.
Merriam Webster
> [@](#):
>
> Definition of nut (Entry 1 of 2)
> 1a(1) : a hard-shelled dry fruit or seed with a separable rind or shell and interior kernel
>
> (2) : the kernel of a nut
>
> b : a dry indehiscent one-seeded fruit with a woody pericarp
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/12 "2018-10-18T01:38:58Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> In common English, it’s a nut. It’s only a drupe if you are having a technical conversation with a botanist (or if you are being deliberately pedantic.;))
>
> Tell someone you want to buy a cocodrupe and see how far it gets you.
>
> Merriam Webster
So where’s the seed in a coconut? Don’t remember seeing one any of the times I’ve opened a coconut.
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### Author:  [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/13 "2018-10-18T02:21:18Z")
> [@TSBG](#):
>
> So where’s the seed in a coconut? Don’t remember seeing one any of the times I’ve opened a coconut.
The entire coconut is a single seed. At least the part of it that remains after being prepared for market.
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### Author:  [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/14 "2018-10-18T02:26:24Z")
Here’s a video of a woman opening, preparing, and eating a sprouted coconut. I learned a lot about coconuts just from watching this. Enjoy!
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2rXLEORHgk)
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/15 "2018-10-18T02:29:25Z")
> [@TSBG](#):
>
> So where’s the seed in a coconut? Don’t remember seeing one any of the times I’ve opened a coconut.
What do you think a coconut is if it isn’t a seed? The entire [spherical kernel](https://qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-b72c271e258eadbe94dec710078273d4-c) contained within the fibrous husk is the seed. It includes a hard shell with solid (the coconut “meat”) and liquid (the coconut “water”) endosperm inside. The embryo won’t be noticeable until it germinates.
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/16 "2018-10-18T02:56:40Z")
Okay, so it’s a drume, which fruits have a hard stone/seed surrounded by flesh, except the entire coconut is the seed? 😕
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/17 "2018-10-18T03:28:00Z")
> [@TSBG](#):
>
> Okay, so it’s a drume, which fruits have a hard stone/seed surrounded by flesh, except the entire coconut is the seed? 😕
Yes, but the “flesh” (the husk) is hard and fibrous rather than soft like typical drupes.
Just call it a nut, it’s easier.😉
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### Author:  [@TSBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TSBG)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/18 "2018-10-18T03:56:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Yes, but the “flesh” (the husk) is hard and fibrous rather than soft like typical drupes.
>
> Just call it a nut, it’s easier.😉
Thanks, and thanks for not correcting my spelling error…embarrassing.
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### Author:  [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/19 "2018-10-18T04:22:34Z")
> [@Colibri](#):
>
> Yes, but the “flesh” (the husk) is hard and fibrous rather than soft like typical drupes.
Is it? I’ve never seen a whole green cocodrupe in real life, but [the flesh looks pretty fleshy](https://sc02.alicdn.com/kf/UT8NBIGXuBaXXagOFbXm/NATURAL-DRINKS-FOR-HEALTH-FRESH-COCONUT.jpg).
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### Author:  [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2018, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-palm-trees-grow-from-seeds/823105/20 "2018-10-18T04:34:51Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#):
>
> Is it? I’ve never seen a whole green cocodrupe in real life, but [the flesh looks pretty fleshy](https://sc02.alicdn.com/kf/UT8NBIGXuBaXXagOFbXm/NATURAL-DRINKS-FOR-HEALTH-FRESH-COCONUT.jpg).
What you are calling flesh is endosperm, part of the seed. What **Colibri** (and botanists) is calling flesh is the fibrous layer around the hard outer shell, which qualifies the coconut fruit as a drupe.
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