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

Another day at the beach

Just for today

Some finds

Weather has been harsh this summer, so we have not been on the beach much. Very wild, windy, full of rain :(  We have just had a couple of days of sunshine and no wind that that's been wonderful.

This is the first time we have seen this kind of starfish.  It was quite big, about the size of a Frisbee and purple/blueish in colour.

Its called Cyanea lamarcki. Also known Blue Jellyfish, or Bluefire.

We found it in a very rocky area, right on the shore at low tide.

You can read more about it and other jellyfish here http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Jelly.htm

This is a pebble beach near where we found the jellyfish.

Beach combing

I was searching for beach combing again today, hoping to find something.

I did find this site http://wn.com/Beach_combing which seems to have a couple of interesting things on it. Youtubes and stuff.

We found some sponges on the far north beach the other day but did not have the camera with as the weather was dreadful. Too late we found that our mobile photo memory was full up. It was so windy that day and we had to turn back because it started to rain. You could see the heavy rain cloud moving from the next islands in the chain and it looked ugly. It was a pity because we had hoped to go for a long walk. We did find some really big, very old shells that had been exposed because the wild winter winds and storms had exposed the lower levels of sand.

Its such a pity that these creatures seems to be extinct on this island where we live. I wonder if it was during the seaweed industry era.

People don't realise how much marine life there is on the seaweed. By gathering it in mass and burning it as they used to for the seaweed/glass industry, they must have destroyed so much marine life :(

Last winter the council ran out of grit and as emergency measures beach sand was used as grit for the roads. Beach sand is so precious and full of life its tragic to use it. I hope they dont have do that this year.

I wonder when the last time was that these big shell creatures lived on our island. The ones we find are very old. If we could have them dated that would help.

I wonder if people turned to them in a massive way during the Potato Famine, before the clearances?

Something I saw today on the news was:

Chile Creates Large Marine Reserve at Sala y Gómez Island

http://blogs.nationalgeographic.com/blogs/news/chiefeditor/2010/10/chile-creates-large-marine-res.html?source=link_fb20101007salaygomez

Extract

Today, the Chilean government announced the creation of a large marine reserve around tiny and remote Sala y Gómez island in the Pacific ocean. The Waitt Foundation, Oceana, and National Geographic mounted a March 2010 expedition to document marine diversity in waters surrounding the island. The government's move represents a more than 100-fold increase in the expanse of Chile's marine protected areas.

Read more about it on the site.

Marine conservation is really important. From us studying the beaches and sea around here, there is a lack of marine life. There should be far more than there is because we are so isolated and far from the mainland. Yet there is very little!

Its so frustrating because we want to see so much and there is not :(

I found some stuff yesterday about islands and will try and find it again to post it. It was really interesting. haunted islands and bio diverse islands. I will make another post about it.