Adenanthera pavonina (family Fabaceae)

Common name : santal redwood, graine corail (Fr.)

Description

Those seeds come from a asian tree  (zone raising from China, India to Malaysia). It has been cultivated in many other tropical countries.

Use

Those are among the oldest botanical beads from the world. This is probably due to their durability and their bright color symbolizing old powers and dangers. The seeds are used in most tropical countries to produce jewelery and to protect children from evil eye.

Recent studies from FAO prove their value in human nutrition.  They are still being used roasted in the pacifics, for example in Wallis and Samoa.

Due to their amazing evenness of weight and size (about 0,26 g), the seeds were used by asian goldsmiths to weight noble metals.

More information

You will find this specie with many other details, pictures and related stories in my book "Of seeds and men".