The coconut tree is an herbaceous plant, and not a tree. It has a considerably slow growth, which allows its fruit, the coconut, to fill itself on all the (wealth) that constitutes it. In fact, every single part of the coconut tree is usable, hence its nickname “the tree of life” or “the tree of the one-hundred uses”. For example, we drink the coconut water, we eat its flesh and we use it to make oil, we use the coconut fiber and palm (leaves?) as building material, and the sap of the plant as syrup. Most coconut trees give their first fruit after about 3 years, they reach their maximum productivity after 10 or 20 years, and they can produce coconuts for about 100 years. They give an average of 50 to 150 coconuts a year, depending on the variety. Coconut trees need a lot of water to grow. The abundant rains on the islands of São Tomé and Principe are therefore partly responsible for the innumerous coconut trees in the country.