Response to 'Coconut Killer' article by Mike Foale

By Mike Foale. 



By way of background I have been a coconut specialist for 52 years having begun to study the palm at the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture in Trinidad in 1958. My current mission statement is “coconut redemption” indicating my attempt to rescue the reputation of the palm, as a component world-wide of the tropical beach ecosystem and as a source of good food, from its many detractors. I see the activity of Dr Spencer as very unfortunate and am at a loss to detect any authentic reason for his campaign to annihilate the coconut in Australia.


Sincerely, Mike Foale


Honorary Research Consultant (coconut) - University of Queensland, St Lucia 4072


Coconut palms are actually a native species of the Australian tropical coast. They were found, for example, on Russell Island in the Frankland group near Gordonvale in the 1840s, by the survey ship Rattlesnake. Because the White-tailed rat loved to eat nuts that were washed ashore, as did the aboriginal people of Cape York, the palm was not widespread before the European settlers came. It is very much a part of tropical beach flora and, worldwide, contributes to the stability of the beach above the high tide mark. The idea that it is a threat to other native strand flora is nonsense.


I would urge northern shire councils to protect the palms on their beaches as they add an authentic tropical ambience to the environment. Any mosquito breeding would be due entirely to the careless leaving of split nuts by consumers who need to be reminded that any free water comprises such a risk during summer.


Please draw attention in your newspaper to my book "The Coconut Odyssey - the bounteous possibilities of the tree of life". This can be accessed on the internet at http://www.aciar.gov.au/publictions/MN101
 The evolution of the coconut palm is described in that book. For tens of thousands of years coconut has been a principal food for coastal peoples from India through south-east Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, Melanesia and right across the Polynesian islands of the Pacific. It has the potential to become an important food source also in tropical Australia and would be especially valuable for coastal aboriginal communities.


The oil of the coconut alleviates the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes, it is an energy food and also has reduced the onset of dementia in some elderly folk.


It is way too valuable a resource to become the obsession of a misguided "beach protector" who seems not to be aware of the huge role that coconut has played in the human story.

"Coconut Killer"

Scientist wages war on Far North's coconuts - by Daniel Bateman
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
© The Cairns Post

COCONUT palms may be ­symbols of the tropics to many, but a scientist says they are damaging the natural environment and may help spread dengue fever.

Cape Tribulation Tropical Research Station director Dr Hugh Spencer has spent the past six years studying the impact the palms have had on native beach vegetation.

He has found the thin 50-100m line of forest that lies between the reef and rainforest - called the littoral zone - is constantly under siege from coconut palms, which edge out native trees, pounding them into submission by constantly dumping fronds and fruit on them. Coconuts that are left to rot on the ground collect water, providing perfect breeding grounds for the dengue-carrying mosquito.

To prevent the palms from conquering the beachfront at Cape Tribulation, Dr Spencer and a small group of volunteers have been regularly removing juvenile palms the only way they know - by hand.

Where there used to be entire groves, native plants such as pandanus and she-oaks are slowly reclaiming the beach. "We're getting very, very good recruitment of natural vegetation," Dr Spencer said. "We've literally removed thousands of coconuts. We're all volunteers. Nobody gets paid in this place. "It basically means that we are protecting and recovering the most endangered of our forest types."

Cairns Regional Council general manager infrastructure services Ross McKim said the council did not have a policy either. But it did have a duty of care denutting palms to reduce the risk of liability. "Council is aware that the removal of coconut palms can be an emotive issue and actively manage the trees that are featured along the foreshores and parks of the region," Mr McKim said.

"Council undertakes denutting and palm frond removal and manage those trees already in place, rather than remove what trees are currently there. "While we are aware that these plants may not be native to Australia, council appreciates these palms play an important part in creating the tropical feel of the region."

Dr Spencer previously took more direct action to eliminate palms from the beachfront by boring holes in a number of palms and poisoning them. The actions angered other locals, who referred to him as a "coconut killer". Dr Spencer said his relationship with his critics appeared to have simmered. "I kind of get the feeling that there is more of a mood of acceptance that they really are a problem," he said. "I get the feeling that is starting to filter though, but I don't have any proof".  "I'm not having many people getting their knickers in a twist about coconuts being removed any more."

Tell us what you think. Do coconut trees have a place in Far North Queensland? Post a comment or vote in the Cairns Post Poll by following this link: http://www.cairns.com.au/article/2010/03/17/99841_local-news.html

Poster of coconut varieties in Fiji

Red fruit super dwarf Coconut Palm in Tonga

A photo of a red fruit super dwarf coconut palm in Tonga. This type of coconut is very common in Fiji.

Spicata Coconuts in the Palmetum

Here is the background to the spicata dwarfs in the Townsville Palmetum. By Mike Foal - www.cocosplit.com

In my role as an agronomist located in the Russell Island group of Solomon Islands to work in the Joint Coconut Research Scheme (JCRS) funded equally by the Solomons colonial government and Unilever I visited the Polynesian island of Rennell (200 km south of Guadalcanal) by small government vessel in September 1964. While purchasing seed-nuts of the indigenous Rennell Tall population (for a variety trial and despatch to other research centres around the world) from village groves scattered on Rennell, I noticed a "village dwarf" (delicate dwarf palm with orange fruit) that had the "Spicata" character. Each inflorescence of such palms comprises a single branchless stalk in contrast of the normal inflorescence that might have 12 or more branches connected to the main stem. The Spicata inflorescence has many female flowers extending from the base almost to the end of the stalk and a small number of male flowers at the end.

At that time we had begun generating hybrids at the JCRS and were interested in the fact that a Spicata inflorescence produces very little pollen. We could see that an inflorescence with 12 branches would bear at least 12 times more pollen that a Spicata inflorescence. A low pollen producer would be far more likely to outcross and so a high proportion of seeds from a Spicata palm surrounded by non-Spicata would be natural hybrids, whereas non-Spicata dwarf palms, being mostly self-pollinating, would require expensive male flower removal to force hybridisation.

So we collected some seed-nuts from this palm and planted a group of them on the research station. Since that time we realised that the Spicata gene, a mutant that appears rarely but is known in some other countries, is actually a dominant gene, so that any progeny will display the trait even when hybridised with a non-Spicata palm.

Seed-nuts of Spicata orange dwarf were imported from the JCRS (Solomons) palms by the Townsville City Council in 1998 and established in the Palmetum. Several of the palms from these seeds are true Spicata dwarf and some are evidently hybrids as the dwarf character is modified and the orange colour (a recessive gene) is not expressed.

It seems to me that the attractive fruit colour, the delicate dwarf from, and the unusual inflorescence stalk make the Spicata dwarf an ideal ornamental palm.

Mike Foale has written a comprehensive book on coconuts “The Coconut Odyssey: the bounteous possibilities of the tree of life”. Purchase it, or download it for free here: http://www.aciar.gov.au/publication/MN101