If you are ever walking on the beach anywhere between Texas and Florida, look for sea beans. These are the large seeds of Mucuna species. Mucuna are vines from the pea family that are native to Belize, the Phillipines and other island rainforests. There are approximately 100 species of Mucuna. Mucuna pruriens, the Velvet bean, is cultivated as a medicinal plant. The green jade vine, Strongylodon macrobotrys, is in the same family and related. The most commonly known and sought after Mucuna species is M. bennetii, the Red Jade Vine. Other Mucuna in cultivation are M. sloanii (Yellow Jade) M. nigricans (Black Jade) and M. holtonii (White Jade). These are seeds of M. holtonii. If you see sea beans, pick them up and take them home! They have incredibly hard seed coats that allow them to travel on ocean currents for hundreds of miles and still be viable to grow once scarified, soaked and planted. You never know what you will get! These is also another plant that goes by the name Dwarf Red Jade Vine, which is Camptosema grandiflora, a Brazillian native. Photo of my Green Jade vine below for interest, and the seed pod that it made some years ago (the seeds are insude the pod, which resembles a mango) If you grow Mucunas, I would like to see your photos
