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News Death by coconut unlikely in palm-filled San Diego By Greg Fogg May 8, 2006 San Diego--Rolling Stones musician Keith Richards is recovering in New Zealand from surgery to relieve a blood clot on his brain after falling out of a coconut tree and onto his head in Fiji last month, which means San Diego dodged a bullet – a coconut-shaped bullet.
One of southern California’s most symbolic landscaping devices is the palm tree. San Diego is of course a desert region, yet the rocky soil is inviting to palm trees. Surprisingly though, most palm trees, like illegal immigrants, are not native to this area, except for the California Fan Palm, known for its fan-shaped leaves and large black berries. Other popular palms like the Queen and King variety were transplanted here heavily during the 1920s and ‘30s. Coconut palms, which are synonymous with tropical regions and Gilligan’s Island episodes, were never part of the landscape. Coconut palms are believed to have originated from Southeast Asia, and while the climate in San Diego is unsuitable for producing fruit, they have taken a foothold in Florida. According to legend, the coconut became naturalized to Florida when a ship, carrying crates of the fruit, sank off the coast of what is now known as Palm Beach. The coconuts drifted until they found land and took hold. Coconuts have done well for the island nation of Puerto Rico. It is the birthplace of the infamous Pina Colada when, in 1952 at the Caribe Hilton Hotel, bartender Ramon Monchito Marrero Perez, mixed light rum, coconut milk and pineapple to make the creamy aperitif. Not bad for a place where coconuts weren’t native either. Hawaii is another nutty goldmine of coconut bras, painted coconut purses and coconuts sent through the mail as postcards. Of course, a paradise with coconuts comes with a price. Natives tell the tale of tarantulas that scale the trees, burrow into the nuts and extract the sweet milk to lure flies into their web. Some tarantulas grow to the size of a small coconut themselves. That’s the stuff of nightmares and Hollywood movies. When faced with the prospect of staring down a coconut tarantula or getting beamed in the head with a coconut, many arachnophobes would prefer getting hit in the head. Speaking of which, on the South Pacific Solomon Islands, coconut-related injuries are taken very seriously. In 2001, a Dr. Hermann Oberli reported that, on average, 1.5 patients are treated each month for a coconut-related injury. His database back then contained 122 patients with coconut-related injuries, six whom had severe head injuries and five with spinal injuries. Mercifully, San Diegans will never have to suffer the wrath of coconut tarantulas or death-by-coconuts as the palm trees cannot produce fruit in this region. San Diego may boast about great weather all year round, but the cold, hard truth is it’s just too cold for coconuts to grow here says local garden and landscape designer Kenn Cross of Kenn Cross Concepts. “They need heat and humidity like in Florida,” says Cross. He says it may be possible to grow them inside a home, if tropical conditions were replicated, but he adds, “It would almost be uncomfortable for people." So while rocker Richards recovers from his coconut-induced brain clot, San Diegans may get some “satisfaction” knowing that they are safe from coconuts. -------------------- Greg Fogg is a frequent contributor to Vyuz. Suggested Vyuz reading... San Diego State wary of the Koala | By Maggie Grainger Anti-Bush board game inadvertently promotes republican values | By David Moye James Hartline speaks out on vice in San Diego | By Larry Knowles The bare facts about Brazilian waxing | By Romina Cleary A look inside Imperial Beach border patrol | By Larry Knowles Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wave | By Elisabeth Gause |
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