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lucky legume seeds identified at last! (partially)
This is the text of a new web page i have written on legume seeds as
good luck charms. I am posting it here for those without web access. You
can reach the URL, with clickable links to all the illustrated pages
mentioned, at http://www.sonic.net/yronwode/RedBeans.html
=========
Red Beans
THE LUCKY LEGUMES
While i endeavour to accumulate definitive information about the "good
luck" qualties of several species of psychedelic, intoxicant, and
lethally toxic legumes, here are the links to a number of web pages
where you can find pictures of the various Lucky Legumes.
=========
Abrus precatorius
(1/8" long; bead-shaped; red with small black spot at base of seed,
surrounding hilum)
common names:
crab's eye (Florida)
lady bug seed (California)
Central and South American charm vial #2, Peru
the Mexican Snow-Globe Pyramid of Luck
Mexican package amulets of the miniature horseshoe type
=========
Ormosia coccinea
(1/2" long; flattened shape, red wth irregular black patch along "seam"
edge of seed)
common names:
barakaro (Arawak -- Surinam)
huayruru (Quechua -- Peru and Bolivia)
kokriki (Carib -- Surinam)
panacoco (Guiana)
peonia (Venezuela)
tento (Brazil)
wo-ka (Puinave -- Colombia)
Mexican package amulets of the "collage" type
South American charm vial #3, Peru
South American charm vial #4, Peru
=========
Ormosia macrocalyx
(3/8" long; flattened shape, red with no black marking)
common names:
alcornoque (Panama)
chocho grande (Colombia)
huayruru (Quechua -- Peru and Bolivia)
tento (Brazil)
South American charm vial #5, Bolivia
=========
Ormosia nobilis
(3/8" long; flattened shape, red with variable amount of black marking)
common names:
huayuru hembra (Quechua -- Peru and Bolivia)
mulungu (Brazil)
tento (Brazil)
Peruvian package amulet (NOT YET SCANNED OR DESCRIBED)
=========
"medium-sized red legume, species A"
(1/2" long; "bean" shaped; dark red all over)
common name: frijol colorado (Guatemala).
Central and South American charm vial #1, Guatemala
=========
"reticulate black 'peanut' pod legume , species B"
(1 1/2" long; black, reticulated-wrinkled "peanut" shaped pod; seeds not
examined)
common names:
wishing bean (African-American
Hoodoo wishing bag (NOT YET SCANNED OR DESCRIBED)
=========
"large brown legume seed, species C"
(1" diameter; oblate disk shape, brown with elongated black hilum)
common names:
deer's eye (that's a translation from Spanish, which i don't speak)
(Mexico)
Mexican deer's eye amulet (NOT YET SCANNED OR DESCRIBED)
=========
"very large river-drift legume, species D"
(2" or more in diameter, brown, heart-shaped seed found along sea coast
of South
America)
common names:
sea heart (American seller's commericial appelation
SeaHeart lucky amulets, shown on the commercial web site
http://www.accent.net/alcot/seaheart
=========
In order to learn more about lucky legumes, i inquired about them in
alt.lucky.w, alt.folklore.herbs, and sci.bio.botany. Discussion ensued
in these newsgroups and helpful suggestions were received from
Lee Rudolph, Owen Foley. David Deutsch, Bob Batson, Monique Reed, and
Doug Scofield.
Following these leads, my friend Barry Carroll took me to the Life
Sciences Library and the Herbarium at the University of Texas at Austin
and there, with the help of Head Librarian Nancy Elder and Herbarium
curators Carol Todzia and Dr. Billie L. Turner, i was able to identify
Abrus precatorius as the legume seed in several Mexican amulets and the
Peruvian "huayruru" seeds in my collection as members of the genus
Ormosia.
Barry made change for the copy machine and waited patiently while i
photocopied Velva E. Rudd's definitive study "The American Species of
Ormosia" (Contributions from the United States National Herbarium,
Volume 32, Part 5, Smithsonian Institution, 1965). I spent the next day
reading and absorbing the information therein and creating a cross-index
of common names and places of origin for each species -- and i suppose i
am now as fully conversant on the subject of Ormosias as the average
hobby folklorist and garden writer can be.
I intend to summarize my findings here at a later date -- but suffice it
to say for now that several species of Ormosia seeds (of the 50 species
native to the Americas) are used for good luck charms in Latin America
-- and that these fascinating legumes contain alkaloids with medicinal
and narcotic properties, and that indigenous knowledge of these
properties may account for the seeds' debased cultural survival as
"lucky" emblems. Furthermore, because the distribution of each species
was carefully mapped by Velva Rudd, the region of origin for a given
amulet can be fairly closely judged by identifying the species of
Ormosia used. Stay tuned for LOTS more information on Ormosias!
Thanks to all those who have contributed information to date. Any
further help would be greatly appreciated and will be credited here.
catherine yronwode ---------------------- mailto:yronwode@sonic.net
news:alt.lucky.w ---- discussion of folkloric amulets and talismans
LUCKY W Amulet Archive: http://www.sonic.net/yronwode/LuckyW.html
The Sacred Landscape: http://www.sonic.net/yronwode/sacredland.html