Beads, A Gardening Interest?

VERY complete list, though I had to look up Phenakospermum guyannense, since while I knew what it was, I was used to it being in the old genus Ravenala. It turns out that the genus was split into and old and new world group. So technically the listing is correct with the new genus name (though wrong about the second species, the Travelers Tree is STILL in Ravenala. They're now two genera of one species each.).

Thanks for the link in any case. NOW when I make mention of finding some of these things in my searches, I can link here for people to know what I am talking about!
 
I'm surprised that Phaseolus isn't better represented.

Our TEG crafters must be viewing the photo's in the bean thread with interest.

:)

Steve
 
I think part of the reason may be that, by the standards of beads, a lot of regular beans aren't really durable enough for long term wear. A lot of the legumes on that list have the kinds of seedcoats you need a pair of pliers to crack. The one time I tried to grow Caesalpinia bonduc I needed to use a grinding wheel to breach the seedcoat and hold the seed to it by hand, a process I REALLY don't recommend. Nickernuts are REALLY good at holding heat so they get red hot really easily under friction and you have to sand off ALL of the outer seed coat for water to get in evenly (they aren't like most of the hard legumes, where, once you make a hole in the outer coat for the water to get in, the rest of the outer seed coat softens up or flakes away as the under coat swells so that the seed ends up imbibed from one end to the other). Compared to those, the common bean is a little brittle. I suppose it works okay for more ephemeral pieces, but a lot of these jewelry items are heirlooms of great spiritual significance to the people who make them; designed to be worn for years and passed down.

Oh and speaking of nickernuts, a clarification from what the article said. Yes "nicker" is an old word for marble but the seeds were never used as marbles in the sense we would think, for the game of marbles. They can't be, the aren't round, and actually it's pretty rare to find one that doesn't have some flattened sides from pressing up against it's neighbors in the pod (you CAN (I have one) but it's like trying to find a perfectly spherical chestnut), so they don't roll. You can use them in a game sort of like tiddlywinks but their most common game use is for something called Island Wari which is a simplified form of mancala (or I suppose backgammon) Supposedly it was invented by the Caribbean pirates. You make a series of holes and each player gets seeds (traditionally, one will use the grey nickernuts, and one will use the related Tan nickernut (C. major/christa).Then it's the standard move your seeds along the circles until you get to the big circle at the end type game)
 
That is a neat site, all the different seeds! Thanks for posting it, how did you find it anyway?
 
@baymule , I was curious about the wide variety, beauty and interest on the bean thread.

So, I took a few minutes to search for jewelry. As is often the case, looking at Google images was most productive, just had to keep changing my search terms as I seemed to get further away or closer.

Deleting all of the image part of the url took me to the homepage with its table of contents and ... I posted that.

:) Steve
 
Interesting site, Steve! I just may come to be a useful site as well.

Off topic: I am dutifully going through all the threads and saving "Rudy" for last just to test my self control. I am itching to see the newest in Rudy fashions, friends, and frolics.
 
That was really fascinating, Steve. I would like to see it in book form for easier flipping, although I made it through most of them with the back button. The intricate carvings on plum pits and walnuts were really neat. Several are things readily available around here. Maybe if I start utilizing the seeds of the Datura stramonium (Jimson weed), I can eradicate it forever from my yard. It came in with a load of cow manure, although I also have D. wrightii which I planted on purpose and often regret, even though it's especially pretty and fragrant. I used to make jewelry, not from seeds, although I did several pieces with porcupine quill.

I would think any beans from the genus Phaseolus would probably be better used for mosaics. They would eventually discolor/darken some with age anyway. I started a rooster mosaic made from rainbow popcorn awhile back, but never finished it and eventually had to toss it. It would have been neat though.
 
I'd be careful to check things there. Because there are people who use the seeds to get high, there are some municipalities where being caught collecting jimsonweed seeds, or being in possession of a large number of them, can land you in trouble with the police. Check to make sure your community isn't one of them first.

Where you are, you can probably grow Job's tear (I'm more or less the same zone as you (thanks to being so close to NYC and I can in good years). Though forget about eating the leftovers. The inner grain IS edible but the shell on the standard form is so hard you need heavy machinery (or pliers) to crack it. And the eating kind (which has a much softer shell) is actually rather hard to find as seed. I've got a little but that's been culled one by one from bins of the processed stuff in Chinatown; looking for ones the huller and polisher missed (I think there is actually someone on the SSE who has the eating kind too, but whether he still does I have no idea)

You're probably OK for Cardiospermum too. Where you live it actually might grow wild. If it doesn't and you want it, most flower catalogs sell it (look under Baloon vine or Love-in-a-Puff)

Maybe Chinaberry too; I don't know.

You might be able to grow horse tamarind, Leucaena leucocephala (I prefer not to call it leadplant, since that tends to get it confused with the leadplant we have up here, Amorpha fruticosa) though I don't recommend that. Horse Tamarind is a tree and a very weedy tree too. It isn't poisonous but it is extremely invasive and grows at a ridiculous level (one of the local names for it translates as "tree that mocks the woodcutter") Unless you cut it like crazy, or have herds of animals you can feed the leaves too (they make good fodder) it's pretty much guaranteed to take over everything.)
 
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