Distribution : "While the coconut fruit is naturally adapted for dispersal by sea currents, its pantropical dissemination was achieved with the help of humans. A native of the Old World tropics, the species was spread to eastern Polynesia and subsequently introduced to the Pacific coasts of Latin America, most likely by pre-Columbian Austronesian seafarers from the Philippines. In the Indian Ocean, the composition of coconut populations was likely influenced by Austronesian expansions westward to Madagascar. Later, coconuts were introduced by Europeans from India to the Atlantic coasts of Africa and South America and to the Caribbean. The species is typically found in areas of present or past human activity, and all or nearly all coconut populations worldwide have likely been influenced by human cultivation and dispersal." (Gunn
et al., PLoS ONE, 6(6):
undefined. 2011).
Statut biogéographique : Pour la Guyane française, Aublet indique en 1775 (Hist. Pl. Guiane, 2:
973. 1775): "Cet arbre n'est pas naturel à Caïenne; il a été multiplié par des fruits qui y ont été apportés, & plantés à Courou." Granville & Gayot (2014) indiquent: "En Guyane, planté isolément dans les jardins et, en grand nombre sur les arrière-plages de l'île de Cayenne et de Kourou. Aux Iles du Salut, il se reproduit spontanément et a envahi l'ensemble des îles."
