Sea Beans vs. Molucca Beans

We recently found 2 "sea beans" on the beach whilst beach combing.  They were found a couple of months apart but on the same beach.  It is a westerly beach.


We searched for info on the internet and identified the ones we found. They are not "Molucca Beans" which are white/dark but another kind.  All seeds that wash up on shores around the world are collectively known as SEA BEANS.  Most are members of the legume family, though some are not.  Sea-beans often float because they have an internal air pocket within the seed.


Apparently these sea beans wash-up after journeying on sea currents such as the Gulf Stream, after events such as hurricanes that affect the Caribbean and African coasts.





1.  Size = 5.5cm.  It is a  dark brown colour and circular shaped with an indentation on the one edge.  It appears to be a Sea Heart - Entada Gigas.  The giant pods of this huge tropical legume vine are 1-2m.  Sea hearts are impervious to salt water, and even after floating in ocean water for several years.  It is also know as the Monkey Ladder Vine/Pod - The vines provide transport for monkeys high in the rain forest canopy.

2.  Size = 2.6cm x 1.3cm and is known as a the Mucuna seed / Hamburger seed and the one below comes from the Pacific coast of Costa Rica.

"A number of types of beans and large seeds are regularly washed up on the western shores of Britain, having been carried by the Gulf Stream from the Caribbean or South America, and there is a long tradition of these being found and treasured as amulets, under a variety of names—Lucky beans, Molucca beans, Sea beans, Virgin Mary's nuts, and so on. The tradition seems to have been particularly strong in Western Scotland, although the first known reference is in Richard Carew's Survey of Cornwall (1602), 27, who mentions their use ‘for women travailling in child-birth’. These beans were often worn on a string around the neck to avert witchcraft and the evil eye. Their use as commercial generic ‘lucky charms’ has persisted into the present day, and Vickery gives several instances of them being offered for sale at seaside resorts and elsewhere."  Read more: http://www.answers.com/topic/lucky-beans#ixzz1XLyYuMBC




World currents and distribution of sea beans:




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We have previously read about Molucca Beans in the Western Isles and how they were considered lucky/unlucky according to their colour (white/dark). There is a long tradition of using them as amulets for good luck, banishment of ill luck or to ease childbirth.


Image:  organicindia.com


"molucca bean A kind of bean or nut, sometimes worn as an amulet in the Western Isles of Scotland....When witchcraft is threatened the beans turn black, warning of misfortune or death. They are particularly credited with assisting women in childbirth and with preventing death by drowning.... "


Ref:  by David Pickering Dictionary of Superstitions http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/821845.Dictionary_of_Superstitions 

MOLUCCA BEAN amulet 
1602 R. CAREW Cornwall 27. The sea strond is strowed with … shels. With these are found … certain Nuts, somewhat resembling a sheepes kidney, saue that they are flatter: the outside consisteth of a hard darke coloured rinde: the inner part, of a kernell voyd of any taste, but not so of vertue, especially for women trauayling in childbirth, if at least, old wiues tales may deserue any credit.

1703 M. MARTIN Western Islands of Scotland 38–9. There is a variety of Nuts [which drift from the Molucca Islands] called Molluka Beans … used as Amulets against Witch-craft, or …

Ref:  http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1O72-MOLUCCABEANamulet.html

Possible source of the Molucca Bean:  The Maluku Islands (also known as the Moluccas, Moluccan Islands, the Spice Islands) are an archipelago that is part of Indonesia, and part of the larger Maritime Southeast Asiaregion. Tectonically they are located on the Halmahera Plate within the Molucca Sea Collision Zone. Geographically they are located east of Sulawesi (Celebes), west of New Guinea, and north and east of Timor. The islands were also historically known as the "Spice Islands" by the Chinese and Europeans, but this term has also been applied to other islands outside Indonesia.  Source:  http://uk.ask.com/wiki/Maluku_Islands 

Here are some useful links:


http://www.therainforestgarden.com/2010/10/beach-combing-for-gardeners.html 
Sea Hearts - http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plmay97.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entada_rheedii
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/mucuna.htm
http://www.seabean.com/what.asp
http://www.seabean.com/guide/
http://www.seabean.com/
Molucca Bean - http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/821845.Dictionary_of_Superstitions  
The Mary bean - http://www.scottishmusiccentre.com/catalogue/w2254/


Images of sea beans http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=molucca+bean&hl=en&rlz=1C1GPEA_enGB319&biw=1024&bih=653&source=lnms&ei=zM5nTqGcKIOi8QOwibH3Cw&sa=X&oi=mode_link&ct=mode&cd=1&ved=0CC4Q_AUoAA#q=molucca+bean&hl=en&rlz=1C1GPEA_enGB319&prmd=ivns&ei=T89nTt_XGYXC8QOs0PD5Cw&start=10&sa=N&fp=1&biw=1024&bih=653&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&cad=b