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The plant is best known for its seeds, which are used as beads and in percussion instruments, and which are toxic because of the presence of abrin. Ingestion of a single seed, well chewed, can be fatal to both adults and children. [2] The plant is native to Asia and Australia. [1] It has a tendency to become weedy and invasive where it has been ...
Two principal techniques are used to produce seed beads: the wound method and the drawn method. The wound method is the more-traditional technique, is more time-consuming, and is no longer used in modern bead production: in this technique, a chunk of glass known in glassmaking as a gather and composed mainly of silica is heated on an iron bar until molten.
The seeds are used as beads to make malas (rosaries), known as Bodhichitta malas, [2] Buddha chitta mala, or Bodhi seed malas, used in Tibetan Buddhist worship. These are highly valued with a mala of 108 beads costing up to 80 thousand Nepalese Rupees. However the price of the mala varies according to the diameter and the face of the seed.
The beauty of the seeds has led to them being used as beads for jewellery. The botanist Edred Corner stated that in India, the seeds have been used as units of weight for fine measures, of gold for instance, throughout recorded history because the seeds are known to be almost identical weights to each other. [8]
The hard seeds of the plant could also be used in art and crafts, such as making beads for rosaries. It has naturalized in parts of Australia and in New Zealand, but it is classed as 'weed', [23] since it has the ability to colonise an area (with bird dropped seed) if left unchecked. [16]
A misbaha, a device used for counting tasbih. The number of beads varies by religion or use. Islamic prayer beads, called Misbaha or Tasbih, usually have 100 beads (99 +1 = 100 beads in total or 33 beads read thrice and +1). Buddhists and Hindus use the Japa Mala, which usually has 108 beads, or 27 which are counted four times.
The seeds are used as beads in jewelry. [23] The seeds are used as the mobile elements of the kayamb, a musical instrument from Réunion, as well as the hosho, a gourd rattle from Zimbabwe, where the seeds are known as hota seeds. In more remote regions of India, cannas are fermented to produce alcohol. [24] The plant yields a fibre from the ...
Many seeds have been used as beads in necklaces and rosaries including Job's tears, Chinaberry, rosary pea, and castor bean. However, the latter three are also poisonous. Other seed uses include: Seeds once used as weights for balances. Seeds used as toys by children, such as for the game Conkers. Resin from Clusia rosea seeds used to caulk ...