Around the sandy tropical beaches of the world are found groves of the coconut palm, Cocos nucifera (Family Arecaceae). The cococut fruit is a very large drupe that floats on seawater and thereby was been carried to distant sandy beaches. When the fruit washes ashore, the outer fruit wall gradually breaks down by animal foraging, until it is possible for water to stimulate the germination of the seed within the fruit. Fibrous roots grow downward into the nutrient-poor sand and the epicotyl develops into the shoot of the plant. Prevailing wind causes the plant to lean away from perpendicular. This species is extremely flexible and generally does not break even when tormented by hurricane-force winds.

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