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Bright beads
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As a child you couldn't resist collecting them, and now they make great bio-jewellery
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QUICK-GROWING SPECIES The seeds of the coral wood were once used to weigh gold
Children love these hard, bright red seeds and can't resist collecting them. Time was when these attractive seeds, known as circassia seeds, were used as a jeweller's weight and made into rosaries, bracelets and earrings. They usually lie scattered under the tree.
You must have guessed what we are talking about! Yes, it is the red bead tree known as gulaganji in Kannada and aanaikundumani in Tamil, a native of India, China and Malaysia. It is also known as coral wood or the red wood tree.
Adenanthera pavonina, as the tree is botanically known, belongs to the family Mimosaceae. The name Adenanthera is derived from two Greek words — `aden' meaning a gland and `anthera' meaning, an anther referring to a gland present in the anther. It is a large, quick-growing deciduous tree with bipinnately compound leaves and small, scented greenish yellow flowers borne on elongated cylindrical spikes.
The curved and twisted pods, containing the brilliant red, lens-shaped and extremely hard seeds, burst open when dry and curl up inextricably forming a dark twisted mass with the seeds still attached to its surface. The seeds resemble that of Abrus precatorius, which are also red but have a black spot and are extremely poisonous unlike gulaganji. An interesting feature of the seeds is that they can germinate only if the seed dormancy is broken by soaking them in water, scratching them or treating them with a mild acid (scarification to break dormancy).
The leaves are used to supplement animal fodder or mulched to fertilise crops. The tree is believed to fix nitrogen and help rejuvenate soil. A red dye obtained from the wood powder is applied as tilak on the forehead. The heartwood is red when freshly sawn, turning purple on exposure to air. In Indian medicine, the ground seeds are mixed with honey and applied as a poultice to boils and abscesses. The seeds are also strung into ornaments. Next time you spot someone wearing a red bead necklace take a second look for it could be one of those chic aesthetic pieces of bio-jewellery.
PAULINE DEBORAH & RIDLING WALLER
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