Officially known as the or Double Coconut , the Coco de Mal produces the largest and heaviest seed of any plant in the world. A single mature nut can weigh between 15 to 30 kilograms (33 to 66 pounds) and measures up to half a meter in diameter.
The Coco de Mal is listed as on the IUCN Red List. The Vallée de Mai is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, strictly protected. The primary threats today are: coco de mal
For the traveler, seeing a living Coco de Mal palm in the Seychelles is a bucket-list experience. For the collector, owning a legal, certified shell is owning a piece of botanical history. But for the scientist, the Coco de Mal is simply a miracle of patience—a fruit that takes seven years to ripen, only to fall to the forest floor and wait another century to grow. Officially known as the or Double Coconut ,
Because of the keyword "Coco de Mal," collectors and occultists still seek these nuts. They are carved into cups, bowls, or used in fertility rituals. A legitimate, certified Coco de Mal nut can sell for $300 to $500 USD on the legal market. However, a raw, uncertified seed poached from the Vallée de Mai can fetch over $2,000 on the underground occult markets in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. The Vallée de Mai is a UNESCO World
The "evil nut" has made appearances in literature ranging from Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (where he compares the shape of the whale's head to the sea coconut) to modern video games like Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag , where a "Coco de Mal" is a collectible rare artifact.