There are many types of seeds on Guam. There are LARGE seeds, and then there are small seeds, there are dull seeds and bright seeds. Then there are round ones, almost square ones, tear drop shaped, and even some that look like bright red skittles™ minus the little "S" on it. This page was made in dedication to all the pretty, and NOT so pretty seeds that have made me money, given me satisfaction in knowing my culture, and also if enlightening me to the vast scope of seed types available on Guam. Read on to see what I mean.
I'll start out with the larger seeds. These are called bayogu dånkalu in my language. Bayogu is a large seed from a liana (LARGE tropical vine) that grows deep in the jungle. The scientific name for this vine is either Entada pursaetha or Entada phasaeloides. This vine intertwines itself among the trees and also itself. It makes a beautiful pendant and also a full strand of these is just stunning. This seed comes in a variety of shapes ranging from bean like, heart shaped, rectangular, round oblong and down right deformed. Here are a few pics of some bayogu seeds that I own.
Next I'll talk about the next to the largest seeds on Guam. These would be the sea beans. On Guam we have about three types of sea beans. There are the hamburger nuts, bayogu dikike', and the sea purses. These are all generically called bayogun dikike' by those that are not educated in the way of seeds ;) hehe. (Bayogu means knee cap. Dikike' means small. I guess the big bayogus look like kneecaps.) Here are some pics of the ones I have. First is a hamburger nut, then a bayogu dikike', then a tiger striped sea purse (this one is RARER than I don't know what!) The characteristic seed scar is visible on ALL three types of sea beans. The two mucuna type seeds (hamburger and bayogu dikike', which have wider hilum, the black stripe around the seed then the other dioclea (sea purse).
This one here is from a local hardwood tree that is super slow growing. It is called ifit, and grows on Guam, and ranks in hardness with ebony and other woods. This seeds appears in MANY shapes, but is always about 1/8" thick. It is black, not smooth, and has a very thin hilum unlike the two mucuna seeds up above (hamburger nut and bayogu dikike').
Now i'll move into the red seeds. There are three types of red seeds that are found on Guam. Actually two are red and the other is maroon. The first red one is the rosary bean, or kulåles hålom tåno(meaning bead from withing the jungle) from the plant Abrus precatorius, which is a vine. These are small, shiny red seeds that are black on one tip, the tip where the eye is located. Then there is the kulåles(meaning bead) from the plant Adenthera pavonina, which is a medium sized tree that looks similar to the monkey pod tree(Samea saman), but the leaves are not as large, and not as glossy. These seeds resemble red skittles™ candies. And next is the gåogåo seeds, which come from the Cat's claw tree(Erythrina varigata), these seeds are bean like, maroon, and have an ovate eye on the top of the seed. Here are the pics, in this order:
Kulåles hålom tåno, kulåles, gåogåo seeds.
on 02/24/2003
