Coconut palm
Cocos nucifera
Also called Coconut and Cocos
Houseplant · Ferns & palmsBE HONEST WITH YOURSELF ABOUT THIS ONE. It is sold as a novelty, it needs full tropical sun and humidity, and almost every one bought as a houseplant is dead within two years. The nut it is growing out of is its entire food supply and cannot be buried.
Care at a glance
- Ease
- Very hard
- Water
- Every 5 daysKeep it moist — water at the first hint of dryness — don't wait for a dry pot.
- Light
- As much direct sun as you can give it
- Feed
- Every 30 days
- Humidity
- Very high
- Hardiness
- Tropical — indoors, warm RHS H1A, to 15°C
- Size
- 2 m tall · 1.5 m across
- Lifecycle
- Tree
- Origin
- The tropical Pacific
Is it safe for pets and people?
No animal-poison authority lists this plant either way.
Nobody has checked this one against a source for us yet, so treat it as unknown rather than safe.
Neither authority names Cocos. That is an absence and not a clean bill.
Checked against ASPCA and RHS on 2026-09-22. Where a source says nothing, we say nothing.
A guide, not veterinary or medical advice. If a pet or a person has eaten a plant and you are worried, call your vet or doctor now — don’t wait for signs to appear. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
First signs of trouble
- A nut potted out of sight and the plant fading over a season. The nut is its entire food supply and must sit ON the compost, half exposed.The nut buried · disorder
- Steady browning from the frond tips inward over months, in an ordinary room. It needs tropical sun and humidity; most bought as houseplants die within two years and that is the honest expectation.Brown tips and slow decline · disorder