Sojourning Seeds

A stranded drifter

How long were you lost at sea

Sea bean on the sand

Sea beans are seeds or fruits that wash into the sea, drift for some time and then get washed ashore. They are also called drift seeds or beans. There are a handful of different kinds that you can find on Saipan that usually wash up on the eastern beaches. I am still trying to figure our if it is sustainable to include see beans for my project. The above picture is that of a kukui nut (Aleurites moluccana) which I originally thought drifted from Hawaii. I've been finding quite a bit of them lately.

SEA HEARTS (OR MONKEY LADDER BEANS)
The sea heart (Entada gigas) is a well known sea bean because of its curious shape, big size, and high polish. The ones I've found are dark brown and have a very hard covering making them appear like wood carved hearts. Sea heart vines are lianas (woody, long-stemmed and rooted on the ground). Parts of the thick vines grow ribbon-like and this prompted the common name, monkey ladder vine. I haven't seen these vines growing on Saipan. It would be interesting to find since they own the record for bearing the largest seed pods (over 5 ft. or 1.5m).
Another monkey ladder vine is the snuff box bean (E. rheedii) since the hard seed covering was used as snuff boxes. In Chamorro it is called, bayogon dankulo (kneecap, big) and the seeds are reddish brown, almost rectangular in shape and are supposedly poisonous. The leaves and stems are used in traditional medicine. Its synonym is E. pursaetha and another common name is the African dream herb since its leaves are dried and smoked there supposedly to induce vivid dreams.

LITTLE MARBLES
I do not have a lot of information about this beautiful marble-like seed. They are also called glass eye vine (Oxyrhynchus volubilis). I usually find them covered in a beige, corky layer that need to be scrapped off to reveal the shiny black to dark brown seeds.

SEA PURSES
The sea purses we mostly see here are Dioclea wilsonii. They somewhat resemble our local bayogo (Mucuna gigantea) but are generally bigger and the hilum (where the seed attached to the seed pod) has a bright yellow border.

Does it look like a tiny purse? See the yellow border of the hilum?
Most sea purses I've found are reddish brown but this one (my favorite amongst) is mottled in color. I still need to clean this one up since it had goose barnacles (Lepas sp.) attached to it (white specks).

BURNEY BEAN
Burney in Old English means "island brook". We know these seeds locally as bayogon dikike (pronounce the y sound as a z) which literally means "knee cap small". Most of the ones I've collected are from the vine. They range in color from light to dark brown or mottled with black like the ones below. These seeds are the basis of the bayogo (bojobo) doll industry, seed leis and are extensively collected in the Mariana Islands. Like bayogon dankulu it is used in traditional medicine. Scientifically it is called Mucuna gigantea and like most of its family members, their seed pods have stinging hairs (trichomes) so you have to be careful collecting them. More on this on another post!
BROWN HAMBURGER BEAN
Hamburger beans (Mucuna sloanei) are a joy to find washed up on the beach. They are smaller in diameter and rounder than sea purses. The surface of the seed is polished but rough and the hilum is thick and dark.
Does this really look like a hamburger?
CANDLENUT
I was first made familiar with the kukui or candlenut (Aleurites molucanna) out of Hawaii's seed leis so I thought these were mainly from Polynesia. I now know that they are native in Asia and they even grow as close to us as Pohnpei. Maybe that's why they are pretty common drift seeds here. They polish quite nicely and I may have enough to put together for an authentic seed lei. Problem is if the seed inside is rotten, it is oily and pretty stinky so I will have to find a way to remedy those two problems. I haven't had much luck locating trees on Guam nor here on Saipan.
That's a nice shine! The seeds really take a good polish. Also, the oil inside the seed really does burn like a candle.

MARY'S or CRUCIFIX BEAN

Finding Mary's bean (Merremia discoidesperma) this past weekend was quite a surprise! This drift bean holds the record of having the longest drift of 15,000 miles (24,000 km). Sure other sea beans can stay buoyant longer potentially drifting father, but where they originally came from is hard to determine. Mary's bean has a limited range growing only in Mexico and Central America though.

Mary's bean has been found as far up north as Norway. If the record distance was set by beans found in the Republic of the Marshall Islands (Bikini and Wotho Atolls) then we may have a record breaker in our hands! Old Man by the Sea, Saipan, CNMI is farther than the RMI!
Because of the cross-like indentation on the "top" side of the bean, it has religious significance to some people. It is named after Mary, the mother of Christ and is also known as the Crucifixion or Crucifix bean. It is supposed to be good luck to carry one and women in labor carry them to ease the pain. Some of these are heirlooms being passed from one generation to the next.This is the record breaker's "bottom" showing the hilum, the scar where it once attached to its fruit.
GRAY NICKARBEANS OR NICKARNUTS

I love the unique look of the Gray nickarbeans (Caelsalpinia bonduc). They look like small gray eggs with parallel fracture lines. Nicker is a Jamaican word that came from the Dutch knickker, a baked clay marble. The Chamorros however locally call them, pakao. They are used in traditional medicine. Incidentally, bonduc came from the Tagalog word for mountain, bundok. Boondocks is also a Western derivative that means backwoods or out of way place.

I finally found some Gray nickarbean vines. They are pretty spiny which led to another common name, wait-a-bit vine. I am going to have to return to the spot see when they flower and bear fruits.
SCREWPINE
These aren't seed but are part of the woody part of the screwpine (Pandanus tectorius) fruit. I've used screwpine leaves for cordage but these specimens are so pretty that it looks easy to craft them into things. These are lightly sanded and once coated with tung oil. My BFF, Laurina, thinks they look kind of spooky because the holes look like the eyes and mouth of the grim reaper. I don't see it but do you?
This one is probably from a different Pandanus species that I've yet to identify. It's probably not from here since we really only have 2 species locally. It is pretty nonetheless!
I have found other interesting drift seeds and sea beans to share later. I finally identified a pretty weird looking black seed that felt and looked like a plastic ball. It turned out to be palm nuts from a species of prickly palm trees (Acrocomia mexicana) that grown in South America and West Indies. I didn't have any picture so I will have to share later.Hope you liked my stories. Check this and this which are other sites that are chock full of information on sea beans and drift seeds.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber

P.S. I misidentified the Little marbles and you can read about their true identity here.

Can't Sleep Project

I couldn't sleep last night. I don't think I got enough rest since I got back and now my coughing has relapsed this entire weekend. I was pretty restless flipping through pages of my current reading materials and flipping through scenes of the movie I was playing. I was stuck in insomnia land and the sandman was nowhere in sight.

I noticed some cord laying around that I rolled together while I was on Managaha Island two weeks ago. I was invited by the SDA School to do outdoor classes and I decided to do a nature walk with the younger kids to talk about plants and natural history. At the end of the walk, I picked up a dried screwpine (Pandanus tectorius) leaf, ripped off the spines and started thigh-twisting the strands to cordage. The Chamorros name for this particular screw pine is pahong. I was surprised how tough the cord was after I rolled it. Here's a post with a tutorial on how to make cordage.
I also had a giant clam (Tridacna maxima) bead I took off from a necklace about a year ago that was just lying around unused. I decided to take it off of the nylon cord I had originally used and make a more natural piece. The Chamorro word for giant clam is hima and they called the shell money/ornamental beads, salape'.Hima is very difficult to cut and carve since its calcite-aragonite matrix is very hard, finely-packed and so crystal-like that it cracks easily when it gets heated. Here is the finished piece.
I had a few extra strands of the leaf to roll a smaller cord for the salape' attachment. It is pretty tiring to roll the tiny cord with your fingers.
I still need a lot of help with my technique. Can you see where I cheated? It's my secret.

Sadly, I did not have enough of the pahong leaf to use on the loop, and had to resort to using black nylon cordage. Here is a simple loop and knot for the necklace clasp.

Voila'. It's done.

Well, I am glad of the finished product since it is mostly all natural materials. I need more practice to really get the binding of these things done well. Come to think of it, I haven't had a lot of time lately to make any more necklaces.
I did accomplish to get sleepy after everything was done so the project suited me well for the time it took.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber.

PS. Oops! I misnamed the leaf that I used. There are two types of native screwpines in the Marianas: Pandanus tectorius which the natives call kafu' and Pandanus dubious which is locally called pahong. I have a picture of both in this entry. Check them out in the Guam Forestry website.

7742- Thank You the Island Way

Whenever I visit the U.S. Pacific Island Jurisdictions, I am treated like a king. The islanders really know how to make you feel welcome and go the extra mile to make your stay really pleasant. In the States, our partners do the same for us, taking us around to see the sights, maybe go shopping or to a baseball game. They also really pay attention to the effects of the time difference and jet lag.

One of our long standing project officers will be resigning in a year or two. This means slowly letting go of the PIJ project areas. He has been a champion for the Pacific for more than a decade working out funding and resources that our people can not live without. I am glad that I had at least 3 years under his guidance and experienced immense support for the work that I do. It was my Guahan counterpart, Bernie that had the brilliant idea to take Thom and his wife, Yolanda, out for dinner and to thank him with gifts island style.

Thom had no clue what was going on. Here's brilliant Bernie pretending that we were nervous about our presentations and that we needed some time with Thom to prepare. It was nice to surprise him.

One of the things I'll always remember for is his affinity for taking lots and lots of pictures. We decided to go to a Mexican restaurant called Jalapeno Jack's.
Bernie and the crowning of the king! She was having a hard time maneuvering Thom's fro!
...and our queen. The mwarmwars were from Palau and the leis from Guahan. The mwars were made with artificial flowers since real ones wouldn't have checked out of customs but they were really beautifully made.

The Guahan folks: Bernie, Thom, ate Liz and Yolanda.
James is from Yap, Federated States of Micronesia. The last time I saw him was in 2007 in Pohnpei.
Dr. Zach and Roy with giving some gorgeous shell mwars and necklaces from the Republic of the Marshall Islands. Dr. Zach is based on the main island and Roy is from Ebye.
Roy and I were in Chicago in 2008. It was the first time to see snow for the both of us!
Our couple lookin' smart!
I gave Thom the higam hima: Hacha that I made. He was really appreciative and said he'd make a make a shadow box for it. I also gave away some CNMI quarters.
I gave Yolanda a necklace I made from Spondylus. I shaped one as an alahas and kept one in the natural shape of the spiny oyster.
Hana and Alene from the Republic of Palau gave a beautiful painting of a Palauan chief's house, coconut crafts and some trochus shell and pearl necklace and earings.
Yolanda was excited about a woven pandanus bag from Guahan. I didn't get to take pictures of the American Samoan's who gave tapa cloths to the couple. I think I was caught up in the celebration that I forgot to record the moment in pictures.

At the end of our dinner, a woman came up and asked if we were celebrating a birthday and if we were from Hawaii. I had to explain to her that it was a change to an era, a changing of the guards for all of us in the PIJs. Good luck, Thom. God bless you and Si Yu’us Ma’ase.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber

Forbidden Island: There & back again

For the second time this month, I found myself taking some friends (no Hobbits) to Forbidden Island. Rosita wanted to show JP and her cousin, Lino the hidden pool there, and asked if I could lead hike. I asked Laurina and DJ to come and join us, since I haven’t taken them along in an excursion for quite some time now.

The hike almost got cancelled because the day started out quite rainy and there was some worry about the hike being too muddy. I was glad that I was able to convince the group that we can go slowly and that getting dirty on the hike was part of the fun anyway.

Rosita looked a little worried about the muddy trail.

Good thing she had her trusty walking stick! You have to go cut through some sword grass in the sabana to get to the islet.
Happy hikers: Rosita and Laurina
Then you go through a bit of secondary forest. It was pretty muddy and slippery. I thought for a second that maybe I shouldn't be so gung ho or determined the next time it's this rainy.

The hike was nice since the sun wasn’t too intense but we did need to be careful not to slip on the muddy ground. We had to make a few stops just to scrub the mud off the soles of our shoes on roots and rocks along the way. The trail was slowly getting overgrown by the foliage again. Time to bring a machete! DJ actually did most of the leading since this is his fourth time on the hike. I was glad to be at the back this time around, taking my time to look at things and to take a few pictures.

The pretty and fragrant Sumac or Aidia cochinchinnsis

Wild passionfuit or Passiflora suberosa
Dizzying heights

Can you see the fringing reefs? There she is!
There was enough walking sticks picked up on the trail between Laurina and Rosita for an entire cadre of hikers.

Looks quite treacherous!

Easy! Carefull!

Plenty rocks, nei!
Pretty sandstones in the dirt
Our constant seashore companion: Princess Naupaka, the Half-flower.

You can see two types of Screw Pines here: Pandanus tectorius in the foreground with the slimmer, longer leaves, and P. dubious in the background with the wider, shorter leaves. The Chamorros call these Kafu and Pahong respectively. There will be a quiz later.
Lantana camara or Wild sage. It is a pretty flowering shrub with an interesting odor.
We found some Dodder or what the Hawaiians call Kauna'oa growing in the sabana or grassland
Can you see the small white flowers of this parasitic plant?
I blogged earlier about the Hawaiian island of Lanai's official lei made of orange Kauna'oa

I made DJ a quick mwarmwar with Kauna'oa and Lantana .

I asked him to look like a matao: a Chamorro chieftain.

We made it! Laurina, JP, DJ, Lino and Rosita.

JP on location
Nice outcropping where you can see different layers of earth
I see you!

A Polished nerite (Nerita polita)

Some Plicate nerite (Nerita plicata).

These shells are bright yellow inside and can crawl pretty fast.

Are you all ready to go to the hidden pool?

Looking straight down to the opening of the cave

Lino squeezing in the narrow passage

C'mon, Rosita! I'll catch you if you fall!
JP, the avid photographer

The last time I was at the pool, I was a bit disappointed because the water was so low. We trekked out at about 2 P.M. thinking that the high tide would be upon us in an hour to insure enough water in the pool. Man, I’ve never seen that pool so low! It looks like the surf affects how much water there is more so than the tide itself. Oh, well. DJ and I jumped in the stagnant water anyway, and shared the time with the a few flagtail fishes and a lone sea cucumber.

An hour or two later, it was time to climb back out

Tanke Beach, Kagman

After Forbidden Island, I wanted to see Tanke Beach to maximize our time in Kagman. It gave DJ, Lauire and I the perfect opportunity to beachcomb a little for some neat critters. There are usually lots of marine debris on this beach since it faces the Pacific Ocean in the east. All sorts of trash washes up here from all over the Pacfic Rim.
Here's a curious sole with oysters growing in the little spaces or pockets.

A closer look after carefully taking out a few reveals some Isognomonidae, or Tree oysters. The beautiful inside is nacreous or pearly. The ancient Chamorros fashioned fish hooks out of these shells.

Plenty trash, nei!

A little hermit crab in a nice Fine-net Peristernia (Peristernia nassatula)

There are enough signs at Tanke Beach saying that it is a Marine Protected Area, yet we saw this guy obviously fishing there.

Goose barnacles (Lepas sp.) that were still alive attached to an old water jug.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber