Coconut Palm: The Islander's tree of life.

Trained in the most perfected form of island fighting, young Mindayen uses everything her hands could lay on. One of her most used object is the coconut.
Cocos nucifera the Coconut is a palm tree, whose flowering starts when the tree is five to seven years old and continues subsequently.
In tropical countries where this palm is abundant, the coconut is considered a “tree of life”. Aside from the edible meat and water obtained from the still green nut, the oil from matured nut, the coconut husk can be used as a floor scrubbing material and this also yields coir.
Coir is a fiber material that resist salt water, thus this material is used for making ropes, mats, baskets and brooms. Coir dust is also used as a peat use for agriculture.
The coconut shell is used to manufacture charcoal and the fibrous trunk is used as construction materials like beams and posts. Mature leaves were used for thatching and woven to make baskets.
The young inflorescence yields a sweet sap when cut. The toddy produced from this is made into Tuba:A native wine made from coconut, which is also a source of sugar as well as alcohol.
The pith found in the core near the top of the tree called Ubod, is eaten as a vegetable salad, or put into egg rolls for a delicacy called Lumpiang Ubod.
The coconut attains great commercial value as Copra. Then, the dried extracted meat from mature nuts can yield oil then further; it can produce products such as alcohols, acids. It is estimated that 60 percent of the world’s coconut oil is destined for industrial use. The remaining 40 percent is used as cooking oil, margarine and vegetable shortening.
From coconut oil, fatty alcohols and acids are extracted, which in turn are used in many chemical and pharmaceutical products such as soaps, detergents, shampoos, synthetic rubber, glycerin, hydraulic break fluid and plasticizers.
Another prospect being done is mixing coconut oil with diesel fuel. They said the mixture had some potential as supplementary fuel that will reduce the dependence on crude oil.
Copra meal and cake left over when the oil is extracted, serves as livestock feeds and fertilizers. Shredded coconut is used as an ingredient in confectionary.
Surely, young Mindayen had no knowledge regarding the use of coconut for chemical and or pharmaceutical matters. Sufice for her to know that you can eat, drink, sleep, make a raft, make a house with it and sometimes, use it as a weapon.