Coco De Mer palm tree and its fruit which looks like Pippa Middleton's bum - 10 things you need to know

The rare Coco de Mer nut

THE ultra-rare Coco De Mer palm tree, which only grows on Praslin Island in the Seychelles, was discovered in 1743.

NOW nearly extinct, they require a special licence to be removed from the island.

LEGEND has it that sailors who first discovered the ­double coconut floating in the sea thought it resembled a woman’s buttocks.

THIS is reflected in its old botanical name Lodoicea ­callipyge, which roughly ­translates as “beautiful rump”.

Pippa Middleton's bottom has become world famous (pic: Camera Press)

THE nuts are the world’s heaviest, weighing up to 30kg (66lb) and can grow up to 20 inches (51cm) in diameter.

EUROPEAN nobles in the ­16th Century would polish and decorate them with ­jewels.

SEA merchants considered the Coco de Mer to have magical healing properties.

THE island of Praslin was once thought to be the original site of the Garden of Eden – and the palm the “Tree of Good and Evil”.

FRUITS of the Coco de Mer only grow on female trees – the male trees have long phallus-shaped catkins.

BECAUSE of the erotic shapes, some say the trees make passionate love on stormy nights.

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