Question Is a coconut a fruit, nut or seed? Botanically talking, a coconut is a fibrous one-seeded drupe, also called a dry drupe. However, when utilizing unfastened definitions, the coconut might be all three: a fruit, a nut, and a seed. Botanists love classification. However, classification of plants could be a complicated matter for the typical particular person. Coconuts are categorized as a fibrous one-seeded drupe. A drupe is a fruit with a tough stony covering enclosing the seed (like a peach or olive) and comes from the word drupa which means overripe olive. A coconut, and all drupes, have three layers: the exocarp (outer layer), the mesocarp (fleshy middle layer), and the endocarp (hard, woody layer that surrounds the seed). The coconut we buy in the shop doesn’t resemble the coconut you find rising on a coconut palm. An untouched coconut has three layers. The outermost layer, which is typically easy with a greenish colour, known as the exocarp. The following layer is the fibrous husk, or mesocarp, which ultimately surrounds the hard woody layer known as the endocarp.
