A tall palm tree called Lodoicea maldivicia, which grows only in the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, produces the largest single seed in the world known in the plant kingdom.
The two-lobed seed can be twenty inches long.
It grows in huge fruits that look something like two coconuts joined together in an almost heart-shaped arrangement.
To the European sailors who first saw the seeds floating in the ocean, the shape was suggestive of female buttocks.
To the tourists who eventually followed, they looked like wonderful souvenirs, and the trees are threatened in the wild because local residents collect the seeds to sell.
The seeds are also much sought after by amateur palm growers, but they are not easy to cultivate. They have a very slow germination time of several years.
Eventually a shoot grows out of the seed and then goes underground.
