Many experiments were done to sustain the proliferation of normal stem tissues in culture. The growth of culture was most dramatic when the liquid endosperm of coconut, also known as coconut milk, was added to the culture medium. This finding indicated that coconut milk contains a substance or substances that stimulate mature cells to enter and remain in the cell division cycle.

Eventually coconut milk was shown to contain the cytokinin zeatin, but this finding was not obtained until several years after the discovery of the cytokinins. The first cytokinin to be discovered was the synthetic analog kinetin.