With the exception of amber and coconut pearls, most botanical jewelry is made from relatively inexpensive materials. Polished wooden beads, colorful seeds and pieces of palm, bamboo, and tropical hardwoods are strong on fine nylon filament or gold and silver chains, producing attractive necklaces and bracelets that rival any synthetic costume jewelry. In terms of aesthetic beauty and intrinsic value, plant jewelry may rank as high as any gemstone. Exotic seed necklaces from indigenous cultures throughout the world often come with fabulous tales about their origins and legendary uses.

Without any doubt, the most expensive botanical jewelry is made from amber, fossilized resin from ancient coniferous forests that flourished millions of years ago. Often the globs of hardened pitch contain the bodies of insects -- perfectly preserved in every detail as though they were encased the day before. Since the first records of Neolithic people in Europe, approximately 5,000 years ago, amber has been used as a barter item. Amber has been cherished not only for its beauty but because it was thought to heal many types of illness and also to protect against witchcraft, sorcery, and the "evil eye." Many people believed that, when worn as a tightly beaded necklace, amber guarded against chills by absorbing body heat by day and retaining it at night.

Amber trade mutes of the Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans crossed Europe from the Baltic Sea area, where it was found in great abundance. Even today one of the largest commercial productions of amber comes from large mines on the Baltic shore. Together with tin, amber has been considered one of the chief items that led the Romans to penetrate the Gallic regions to the west and north of the Mediterranean. To appreciate the monetary value of amber, a piece weighing 18 pounds was valued at 30 million U.S. dollars prior to World War II!

For centuries amber was imported from Europe across the Mediterranean to West Africa and down the Red Sea to Ethiopia. The sheer beauty of amber has made it a popular adornment for African women, who wear it in various styles according to their marital status and cultural heritage. In fact, some of the world's most beautiful and elegant amber jewelry is worn by women of Ethiopia and Mali.

Most botanical jewelry is made from seeds which are drilled and strung into necklaces and bracelets. Large spectacular seeds are often used for pendants. Generally, the most durable and colorful seeds are used, although striking necklaces can be purchased in Mexico made from ordinary beans, corn grains, acorns and a common tropical grass called Job's tears (Coix lacryma-jobi). In Costa Rica and Belize unusual necklaces are made from the woody thorns of certain species of Acacia, including A. cornigera and A. collinsii. In the Acacia scrub forests, some of these hollow thorns actually serve as "condominiums" for symbiotic ants that vigorously protect the trees from browsing mammals and destructive insect pests. For this service the tree supplies the ants with carbohydrate-rich nectar secretions from its leaf stalks, and nutritious lipid-protein morsels, called Beltian bodies, from its leaflet tips.

Indians of the southwestern United States and Mexico made necklaces from a variety of interesting native seeds, including angular brown seeds from juniper berries (Juniperus monosperma and J. osteosperma) and the black, marblelike seeds of Texas buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa) and western soapberry (Sapindus saponaria). The soapberry tree has a remarkable distribution throughout southern Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, extending southward through Mexico into Central and South America. Each soapberry seed, often called a "black pearl," is produced in a leathery brown berry containing toxic saponins. Saponins are a group of glycosides containing glucose or a related sugar plus a toxic triterpenoid component. They have the unusual property of foaming with water, and soapberries have been used as soap in Mexico and tropical America. In addition, saponins are especially toxic to cold-blooded vertebrates and crushed soapberry fruits were thrown into ponds and streams to stupefy fish.

In the southwestern United States and Mexico, the most spectacular seed necklaces are made from the bright red seed of two native shrubs called mescal bean (Sophora secundiflora) and coral bean (Erythrina flabelliformis). The mescal bean is a very attractive evergreen shrub with drooping clusters of violet-blue wisteria-like flowers. Mescal beans are especially interesting because they were used by a, number of Indian tribes in a vision-seeking "Red Bean Dance," centered around the ingestion of the potent seeds. In fact, at least a dozen Indian tribes in New Mexico, Texas, and northern Mexico practiced the hallucinogenic Red Bean Dance. The vivid red mescal beans have been found at Indian sites dating back to 1500 BC. Since mescal beans contain the highly toxic quinolizidine alkaloid cytisine, often resulting in overdose and death, they were later abandoned for a safer, more spectacular hallucinogen -- the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii). Today the seeds are still used as a ceremonial necklace worn by the leader of the peyote ceremony, called the "roadman."

Mescal beans should not be confused with the intoxicating drink called mescal, or the potent alkaloid mescaline. Mescal or mezcal is a fermented, distilled beverage made from several species of Mexican magueys, especially Agave angustifolia. One mezcal brand contains an agave worm or "gusano de maguey," the robust larva of a megathymid butterfly, quite literally dead drunk in every bottle. The powerful hallucinogenic alkaloid mescaline is found in several cactus species, including peyote (Lophophora williamsii and L. diffusa) and the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi). The chemical structure of mescaline is similar to that of the neurotransmitter dopamine of the human brain. Research suggests that the cactus produces mescaline from dopamine.

Several other attractive seeds from the legume family (Fabaceae) are used for necklaces in the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America. The most spectacular are from the striking half-red half-black seeds of precatory bean (Abrus precatorius) and the very similar vine, Rhynchosia precatoria. Although the seeds of both species may be toxic if ingested, those of precatory bean are particularly dangerous due to insidious proteins called lectins. Lectins can cause red blood cells to clump together (agglutinate) and may stimulate abnormal cell division in quiescent Band T-lymphocytes. Because of their hard seed coat, the seeds are especially potent when ground up. One thoroughly masticated seed could be fatal to an adult human. In spite of their reputation as one of the world's most deadly seeds, precatory beans are certainly one of the most beautiful seeds on earth. They are sometimes called prayer beans or rosary beans and have been used for rosaries. Because of their remarkably uni form weight of 1/10th of a gram, seeds of Abrus precatorius were used by goldsmiths of East Asia as standard weights for weighing gold and silver. In fact, the famous Koh-i-noor diamond of India, now one of the British crown jewels, was reportedly weighed using seeds of Abrus precatorius.

Another small leguminous tree of the Caribbean, called "jumbie bead" tree (Adenanthera pavonina), produces brilliant red and black, shiny seeds that are remarkably similar in general appearance to Sudafed(R) tablets. Jumbie beads make striking necklaces and are apparently innocuous compared to other poisonous red-seeded species. An individual seed also has a remarkably constant weight of about four grains (0.26 gram). In early times they were known as Circassian seeds and, like precatory seeds, were used goldsmiths throughout Asia as a standard measure for weighing gold, silver, and diamonds.

Tropical forests of the Caribbean, Mexico, and Central America are rich in beautiful seeds, many of which are washed by torrential rains into the sea where they drift to foreign shores. Sea beans (Mucuna and Dioclea spp.) are favorite seeds for Indian necklaces, primarily because of their striking multi-layered appearance and amazing durability. In fact, they can be polished in a stone tumbler, as you would polish agate and quartz, or by using tin oxide and a buffing wheel. Polished sea bean pendants sometimes contain the embossed initials of the proud owner. Sea beans are also called "hamburger seeds" because of the unusual central layer (hilum) where they are connected inside the bean pod. The Spanish name for sea bean is "ojo de buey" because of its striking resemblance to the eye of a bull. Sea beans are produced by climbing woody vines (lianas) that twine through the tropical forest like botanical boa constrictors. The seed pods are covered with microscopic velvety hairs (t richomes) that can be extremely painful -- especially if they get into your eyes. In the Caribbean and Central America, the hairs were stirred into honey or syrup as a remedy to expel intestinal parasites.

In San Jose, Costa Rica, sea beans are sold by, street vendors along with another unusual drift seed called Mary's bean (Merremia discoidesperma). Unlike the true sea beans, the Mary's bean is produced by a beach vine of the morning-glory family (Convolvulaceae). The vine is native to beaches of Central America, and the seeds occasionally drift ashore to the beaches of southern Florida. In northern Europe the Mary's bean was a special find to pious beach-combers. The seed had obviously survived the ocean and they felt it would extend its protection to anyone lucky enough to own one. It is also called crucifixion bean because of the cross etched on one side.

A woman in labor could expect an easy delivery if she clenched a Mary's bean in her hand. Seeds were handed down from mother to daughter as treasured keepsakes. The Mary's bean is also one of the most elusive of all drift seeds. After searching diligently on several Palomar College field nips to the Caribbean, a Mary's bean turned up in my martini -- a gift from my biology students. (I immediately suspected a prank because the bogus "olive" was much too buoyant!)

Some sea beans resemble large wooden hearts and are called sea hearts (Entada gigas). They are produced in huge bean pods up to 6 feet long that hang from a tropical vine. The vines usually grow along freshwater streams, and the seeds, falling into these streams, are carried to the ocean. Some sea hearts cross the Atlantic Ocean from tropical Africa whence they are carried to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, eventually drifting ashore on beaches of southern Florida. Others continue their ocean journey to beaches of northern Europe. With their protective waterproof coat they can survive years at sea, and often will still grow if planted in soft. To insure germination the thick woody seed coat must be scored with a hacksaw blade so the embryo inside can absorb water. In my experience they grow upward very rapidly (up to an inch a day), but do poorly when I try to train them on a trellis or curtain rod. Sea hearts are highly prized by beachcombers and are unquestionably the ulti mate unique gift for Valentine's Day!

Sea hearts have a long and colorful history in fact and fiction. It is said that the sea heart provided inspiration to Christopher Columbus and led him to set forth in search of lands to the west. In fact, the sea heart is called favas de Colom, or "Columbus bean," by Portuguese residents of the Azores in the North Atlantic. In Norway a bitter tea was made from sea hearts to relieve pain during childbirth. In England, sea hearts were used as teething rings and as good luck charms for sailors embarking on a long ocean voyage. Sea hearts and a similar rectangular seed (Entada phaseoloides) were commonly used in Norway and northern Europe for snuffboxes and lockets. The seeds were cut in half, the contents removed, and the woody seed coats hinged together. Their intrinsic beauty was enhanced with a Free finish of tung oil or lacquer.

Many other drift seeds originate on tropical beaches of the Caribbean and follow the Gulf Stream to the North Atlantic. Hebrides Islanders off the coast of Scotland wore marblelike nickernut seeds as an amulet to ward off evil spirits. Known in the Hebrides as the white Indian nut, the seeds reputedly had other magical powers including a cure for dysentery when the powdered seed embryo was taken with boiled milk.

Nickernuts grow wild on beaches of many Caribbean islands and are produced within unusual prickly pods on a scrambling or climbing shrub. Two species with attractive yellow or gray seeds (Caesalpinia major and C. bonduc) are commonly used for necklaces and bracelets, often mixed with the distinctive red and black seeds of rosary bean and elongate seeds from the huge pods of royal poinciana (Delonix regia).

In Guayaquil, Ecuador, drilled nickernuts are sold by street vendors along with a variety of other seeds and herbs, including the striking red and black seeds of the necklace tree (Ormosia monosperma). The nickernuts are strung and worn as bracelets for good luck and to ward off the devil. In the Caribbean, nickernuts are used as marbles by native islanders and have been exported to Europe for buttons. In fact, picker is an old English name for marble. The curious name "burning bean" comes from the fact that when the seed is rubbed vigorously on clothing or concrete it becomes quite hot. Touching a hot seed to the skin of an unsuspecting victim is a favorite game of children.

In Costa Rica, hundreds of tiny brown seeds from jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) are strung with pieces of brightly-colored felt to make an unusual and very attractive necklace. Although there are many species of shrubby and treelike jimsonweeds, this particular species is a cosmopolitan annual weed and a prolific seed-producer. Hundreds of seeds are produced in spiny capsules, sometimes called "thorn-apples." In 1676, British soldiers stationed in Jamestown, Virginia, became intoxicated by D. stramonium when it was inadvertently (or intentionally) included in their salads by the regimental cooks. The episode was widely publicized and the plant culprit became known as "Jamestown weed," and later as jimsonweed. Of all the wild plants utilized in one way or another by people, D. stramonium certainly has one of the most sinister historical backgrounds, particularly in medieval Europe. Through the centuries this innocent-appearing plant has been involved in witchcraft and demonology, in sly but cunning seductions, and in sexual orgies. Other species of Datura have been an important ceremonial plant in several Native American cultures and have provided some valuable clinical drugs.

One of the most remarkable legumes of the New World tropics is the guanacaste (Enterolobium cyclocarpum), a huge canopy tree of the tropical rain forest. This beautiful tree with fernlike twice-pinnate leaves is also naturalized in southern Baja California and the Hawaiian Islands. The word guanacaste, which is also the name of the Costa Rican province of Guanacaste, is of Nahuatl origin and signifies "ear tree." The peculiar coiled, leathery pods superficially resemble the shape of a human ear. The nutritious pods are used for stock feed and the bark and wood are used for tanning and lumber. One of the most interesting uses involves the hard, woody seeds which litter the ground beneath large trees. Guanacaste seeds have a distinctive brown "eye" and make some of the most striking seed jewelry in North America, especially when they are enhanced with a free finish of rang oil or lacquer. In Costa Rica the seeds are used in a variety of bracelets, necklaces and earrings, often mix ed with distinctive red and black rosary beans.

The seeds and hard, stony endocarps of several palms native to the luxuriant Napo River rain forest in Ecuador are used for necklaces. One of the most striking is the starnut palm (Astrocaryum huicungo), so named because the seed-bearing endocarps have etched, starlike designs around the three pores at the basal end. Starnut palms are unmistakable in the dense rain forest, having long, sharp spines up to five inches long. The bony, top-shaped endocarps are polished and made into necklaces by Indians along the Napo River, a major tributary of the Amazon. They are often strung with shiny gray seeds of Job's tears and the distinctive red and black seeds of the necklace tree (Ormosia). Some of the Amazonian necklaces are also adorned with brightly colored parrot feathers, claws and teeth of jaguars, and even a dried piranha! Peruvian Indians hunt monkeys for food and use the monkey bones for necklaces. Hollow, slender bones are often strung with bright red seeds from a species of n ecklace tree (Ormosia) or from the tropical vine (Rhynchosia). Sometimes the entire monkey skull is displayed in the necklace. Peruvian Indians also use claws from the giant anteater or lesser anteater (tamandua), strong with metallike leg segments from a tropical beetle.

The white, dried endosperm of some palm seeds contains a substance called hemicellulose that becomes so hard and dense that it is used as "vegetable ivory" for buttons, chessmen, and in the art of scrimshaw. It can be carved and polished like ivory rusks, without endangering whales, elephants and walruses. Like wood, vegetable ivory is essentially composed of thick-walled dead cells; however, unlike grainy hardwoods it has a texture and hardness similar to ivory. In fact, vegetable ivory is remarkably dense, with a rating of roughly 2.5 on the Moh scale of mineral hardness. [Compare this rating with 3.5 for a copper penny and 10 for diamond.] Several tropical palms are known to produce vegetable ivory, but one of the most important is Phytelephas macrocarpa, also known as the ivory-nut palm. The genetic name Phytelephas is derived from the Greek words phyton (piano) and elephas (elephant). This beautiful palm with huge pinnate leaves grows wild along the Napo River in Ecuador. Four or more large seeds are produced in a spiny fruit the size of a grapefruit. The seeds are so hard that it requires a hacksaw to cut one in half. Called "taguas" by local Indians, the endosperm of immature seeds is pulpy and sweet, and used as food by people and animals of the region.

There are several other palm species with large, extremely hard seeds that are used for vegetable ivory. The Caroline ivory-nut palm (Metroxylon amicorum) is native to the Caroline Islands of Micronesia. The unusual one-seeded fruits are covered with numerous shiny brown scales and superficially resemble a closed pinecone. Another source of vegetable ivory is Hyphaene ventricosa, a beautiful African palm native to islands and banks of the Zambesi River in the vicinity of Victoria Falls. The seeds are smaller than the other two species, but the bony endosperm is just as hard. The fruits of Hyphaene palms contain a sweet, juicy outer pulp that tastes like gingerbread, providing the source of the name, gingerbread palm. Unlike other palms, they have an unusual branching growth habit with forked trunks.

Probably the most remarkable of all botanical jewels is produced by the coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) -- the legendary "coconut pearl." There is considerable disagreement among botanists as to whether coconut pearls actually exist, or whether they are concretions from giant Tridacna clams, or figments of one's imagination. In fact, several botany textbooks flatly state that coconut pearls are a hoax because proof of their existence is totally unfounded. However, seeing is believing -- and the famous Maharajah Coconut Pearl is on display at Fairchild Tropical Garden in Miami. It was discovered on Celebes Island in the Java Sea and presented to Dr. David Fairchild in 1940.

The coconut pearl is certainly the rarest and most valuable of all "botanical gemstones." In fact, its exact chemical composition has remained an enigma because most researchers are reluctant to damage one for assay purposes. According to biochemist Abraham D. Krikorian (Principes Vol. 26, 1982), who has studied the writings of the distinguished 17th century naturalist Georg Eberhard Rumphius, the "pearls" appear to be calcareous. Rumphius reported that coconut stones readily lose their luster when boiled in a weak acid solution of vinegar or lemon juice, suggesting that they may be slowly dissolving. From the limited available information so far, they do not appear to be the same chemical composition as vegetable ivory or the siliceous stones that form inside bamboo stems.

It is difficult to place a monetary value on a genuine coconut pearl, but the odds of finding one in a coconut are certainly less than one in a million. To put it another way -- if you cracked open and thoroughly examined one coconut every 15 minutes during a normal eight hour work day, it would take roughly 80 years to go through a million coconuts! In his classic six-volume work entitled Herbarium Amboinense (1741-1750), Rumphius described and illustrated exquisite coconut pearls owned by Malaysian dynasties, often mounted in jeweled settings of gold and silver.

Another source of very unusual and beautiful necklaces are the Polynesian Islands of Hawaii and Tahiti. Although the candlenut tree (Aleurites molucanna) is native to Asia, it has been spread by people throughout the tropical Pacific because its seeds are rich in oil. The valuable oil expressed from seeds is used as a light source and as a mild cathartic. In the Hawaiian Islands the seeds are known as "kukui nuts" and are polished and made into shiny dark brown or black bracelets and necklaces. In fact, the hard angular seeds take such a brilliant luster that they resemble gemstones rather than seeds. Candlenut seeds occasionally drift ashore on islands of the Caribbean and are known locally as "Jamaican walnuts" because of their superficial resemblance to an unshelled walnut. Tung oil, considered by some woodworkers to be the world's finest finish, is also produced from the seeds of a related tree (Aleurites fordii).

In Tahiti, the woody seed-bearing endocarps of "tianina" or lantern tree (Hernandia nymphaeifolia) are polished by native islanders and made into shiny brown necklaces. The seeds are so perfectly round that they resemble a string of marbles or machine-made beads. Each seed is produced in a remarkable fruit that resembles a fleshy red or white lantern. Another common Polynesian beach plant with unusual prop roots and large pineapple-shaped fruits is the screwpine or pandanus (Pandanus tectorius). The fruits are composed of hard, woody sections called "keys," each containing edible seeds. Pandanus keys are abundant on beaches of the South Pacific. They often become shiny red and are used to make colorful necklaces and leis.

There are many other plant structures cleverly crafted into unusual botanical jewelry. The West Indies mahogany (Swietenia mahogani) is a large tree of the Caribbean region with pods that split into woody sections, releasing hundreds of winged seeds. In the Virgin Islands, sections of young mahogany pods are polished and made into earrings. Attractive earrings are also made from the polished shell (endocarp) surrounding coconut seeds. Another Caribbean tree, Hura crepitans, with an unmistakable trunk and limbs covered by sharp black thorns, grows in forested areas and along roadsides. It is sometimes called "monkey pistol" because the unusual pumpkin-shaped seed capsule forcibly ejects its seeds. The capsule literally explodes like a small grenade, only in this case the shrapnel consists of dozens of flat, circular seeds and many small crescent-shaped sections. Each section has the general shape of a porpoise or dolphin as it bounds through the water. The woody sections are made into earrings and clever pins. This tree is also called "sandbox tree" because the seed capsule was used to hold sand as a blotter -- before the advent of blotters and ball point pens.

Considering the marvelous diversity of plant species and human ingenuity, the possibilities for botanical jewelry are endless. As primary producers in the world ecosystem, plants provide us with food and oxygen. They also decorate our planet with verdant forests and colorful flowers, and adorn our bodies with unparalleled natural beauty.

Article copyright American Botanical Council.

~~~~~~~~

By Wayne P. Armstrong