Saturday, July 4, 2026, 9:00 AM, at the Scout Camp area of Nong Nooch Pattaya — Mr. Kampon Tansacha, Chairman of Nong Nooch Pattaya, together with visiting students from St. Stephen s College, Stanley, Hong Kong, jointly planted 23 additional Coco de Mer palms (Lodoicea maldivica). This marks one of the largest simultaneous plantings of Coco de Mer at the botanical garden, and an important step forward in expanding its mission to conserve rare plant species on a global scale.
With this new planting, Nong Nooch Pattaya s total Coco de Mer collection now stands at 58 trees, up from 35, plus an additional 25 saplings. Each mature tree is valued at approximately 500,000 baht, making this one of Thailand s most significant Coco de Mer collections and a highly valuable ex-situ conservation base for plant genetics.
Mr. Kampon Tansacha said that planting Coco de Mer today is an investment in the future, as conserving rare plant species requires decades of continuity and patience. Nong Nooch Pattaya remains committed to its role as a botanical garden that collects, conserves, studies, and shares knowledge of plant genetics, in order to pass on these valuable natural resources to future generations.
Coco de Mer, also known as the "sea coconut" or double coconut, is a rare palm species native only to a few small islands in the Seychelles archipelago in the Indian Ocean. Its scientific name is Lodoicea maldivica, and it produces the largest seed of any plant in the world, earning it recognition as one of the most prized species in botany. It is rarely found in the wild and is strictly protected. Historically, sailors would occasionally find its fruit floating in the ocean without ever locating the parent tree, leading to the belief that it grew on the seabed — hence its French name, Coco de Mer ("coconut of the sea"). This mystery has made the fruit even more coveted than gemstones among collectors and botanists alike.
