Coconut trees come from coconuts! It sounds so simple when you type it or say it, but seeing a coconut sprouting by the side of the road was somewhat magical.
Flat Hal found it as hard to believe as I did, so we asked Gemini AI just what was going on in the picture we took of some coconuts, and here is the explanation we Received:
Coconuts are the seeds of the coconut tree. When they fall to the ground, they can sometimes sprout a new tree. In your picture, it looks like one of the coconuts has started to grow. The green leaves are the first sign of a new baby coconut tree.
It’s kind of like how a sunflower seed grows into a sunflower plant. The coconut is like the seed, and the green leaves are like the first little leaves of the plant. Over time, that little sprout will grow into a tall coconut tree with lots of coconuts of its own!
This is a great example of how nature is designed to take care of itself. We often think of farmers, and all the hard work they do to grow food, but how did these plants survive, and thrive, before humans decided to farm them?
Is there somewhere near you where something grows wild?
Do you know when the seeds fall, so new plants grow?
Near Flat Hal, in Texas, people will throw seeds for the state flower, the Texas Bluebonnet, then trust the plants to drop more seeds and renew the patch, growing with the aid of rainfall. (Seeds fall in the spring, but we “throw” them in the fall.)