King coconut


King coconut is a variety of coconut, native to Sri Lanka where it is known as Thembili. Sweeter than regular coconuts, there are several sub varieties of the king coconut-the most common being the "red dwarf". The other variety is "ran thambili", a smaller variety containing about forty nuts in a bunch. The king coconut tree is shorter than coconut trees, and are found commonly growing wild in many areas of the country.
King coconut water has been used in Ayurveda. One of the most common uses is a mixture of Aralu powder added to the water of one king coconut.
Sri Lanka now exports packaged king coconut water.
There are many cultivated coconut varieties found in Sri Lanka. Most of them are underway through national coconut research institute. According to a research carried away, they identified these varieties during a recent coconut germplasm exploration mission in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka.
Coconut in Sri Lanka is currently classified into 15 different coconut forms grouped under three varieties,
namely 'Typica', 'Nana' and 'Aurantiaca'. The visual morphological features of several new coconut morphotypes were characterized with the objective of including them in the taxonomic classification of coconut in Sri Lanka.It is also found in some parts of Kerala, here it is known as or red coconut.

Varieties and forms of coconut found in Sri Lanka

Common nameVariety/formFeatures
Sri Lanka TallTall stature, allogamous, heterogeneous, flowers in 6-7 years, medium-sized nuts, 20-25 nuts per bunch, 60-80 nuts per palm per year.
Gon ThembiliSimilar to Sri Lanka Tall. Ivory-coloured nuts, petioles, and inflorescences.
NawasiSimilar to Sri Lanka Tall. Soft mesocarp edible in the immature nut. Yields soft fibre when mature.
Pora polSimilar to Sri Lanka Tall. Remarkably thick-shelled nuts.
Ran ThembiliSimilar to Sri Lanka Tall. Pink-coloured mesocarp in immature fruit and a pink whorl under the perianth. Large nuts.
KamandalaSimilar to Sri Lanka Tall. Large-sized nuts, and few nuts per bunch.
BodiriSimilar to Sri Lanka Tall. Small-sized nuts, and large number per bunch. Seasonal nut production.
DikiriSimilar to Sri Lanka Tall. Some nuts contain a jelly-like endosperm.
King CoconutIntermediate stature, autogamous, homogeneous, fruits in 6-7 years, seasonal flower production, medium-sized nuts with orange epicarp, and sweet nut water; 25-50 nuts per bunch.
Nawasi ThembiliSimilar to King Coconut. Soft and edible mesocarp like Nawasi.
Rathran ThembiliSimilar to King Coconut. Pink-coloured mesocarp, and a pink whorl under the perianth.
Green DwarfDwarf stature, autogamous, homogeneous, fruits in 3-4 years, small-sized nuts with green epicarp. Low copra content, 80-150 nuts per palm per year.
Yellow DwarfSimilar to Green dwarf. Nuts with yellow epicarp.
Red DwarfSimilar to Green dwarf. Nuts with red epicarp.
Brown DwarfSimilar to Green dwarf. Nuts with a brown epicarp.