Cojoba beans
Back in March when the Cojoba tree was in bloom, I was eager to see the beans. Panamanians call the tree coralillo, meaning “coral snake,” and it’s the beans that have two of the three coral snake colors – red and black (yellow is the third coral snake color). Further, the colors are bright, just like the colors of the coral snake.
Now the beans are here. They started appearing a few weeks back, but there was one bean here, another way over there in another tree. Now there are several beans in each tree, but still the beans are scattered lightly and are not as strikingly visible from a distance as you might think from their colors.
Look at how the beans are still attached to the pod, even though they’re not within the pod itself. This appearance might be a way of luring birds to the tree to disperse the seeds (Zuchowski) although few birds seem to be attracted to these beans. All members of the bean family have complex seed coats, but the coats of these beans are actually simpler in anatomy than that in other beans. They are called “overgrown” or “overgrown-like” beans and the value or function of this feature is not yet known (Maumont).
If you click on the left image below, you’ll see some more dangling beans, whereas the pod has not yet opened in the image on the right.
Family: Fabaceae (bean family – alternate compound leaves)
Subfamily: Mimosoideae (mimosa subfamily – the flowers have many stamens)
Tribe: Ingeae (from Inga, the ice cream bean)
Genus: Cojoba (the Taino Indian word for the leaves)
Species: rufescens (becoming red)
More on this tree at the original post.
Update:
Our gardener found a young coral snake in the weeds along the fence. He killed it with his machete and then brought the decapitated corpse for to us to see. It doesn’t have any yellow on it at all – its colors are simply red and black, as in the Cojoba bean. I don’t know what species this snake is – wikipedia lists three genera and many, many species for coral snakes. But here it is for your viewing pleasure:
PS – The species is probably Micrurus multifasciatus, a coral snake of two colors and the most common in Panama. Information from Panamá: Puente Biológio [Panama: Biological Bridge], by Stanley Heckadon-Moreno.
Hello Mary,
I have enjoyed reading your articles as they are very interesting to me. Those orchids are BEAUTIFUL!!
Regards,
Joan
Hello Joan,
Thank you so much for commenting. I agree with you about the orchids. I feel very lucky to live in a place where orchids are so abundant.
Mary
Hola,
Thanks for the info about the Cojoba. It was interesting as usual.
I was browsing through one of my plant books today and I found a page about a Cojoba tree. I had already read this blog entry so it caught my eye. The entry in this book showed the seed pod and seeds to look identical to those on this blog posting but the leaves were much smaller. I believe you have the book I’m referring to. It’s called “Tropical & Subtropical Trees – An Encyclopedia”. The entry I looked at is on page 325. It’s of the same family and subfamily but seems to diverge from there. As of many trees and plants here, many have the same name. I found this a curiosity though. What do you think?
Thanks again.
Hi Michael,
Thanks for noticing page 325 in the Barwick (Tropical & Subtropical Trees – An Encyclopedia) book. I had looked at that book earlier, under Cojoba of course, and had not seen this bean. Ah!
The two plants, the Cojoba rufescens and the Pithecellobium seen on page 325, are certainly in the same subfamily, Mimosoideae. The plant on page 325 has the common name Cojoba but it is placed in the genus Pithecellobium. I have a feeling that the genus Cojoba has fairly recently been separated from the genus Pithecellobium. Here’s what Gentry (A Field Guide to the Woody Plants of Northwest South America, 1996) has to say:
“There is one area species intermediate between Inga and Pithecellobium that has simple-pinnate leaves but a dehiscent fruit with red lining of the typical Pithecellobium-type; that species is currently referred to Pithecellobium as P. refescens.”
Now, however, twelve years after Gentry’s book was published, if you search for Cojoba rufescens, you’ll see that that is the accepted name and that P. rufescens is one of its synonyms.
Still, Gentry’s quote answers one thing: The beans of this Cojoba look very so much like the beans of Pithecellobium that this plant was grouped with that genus for some time.
Does all this make sense?
Thank YOU for commenting and contributing your knowledge. It’s great.
Hello Mary,
The Coral snake is so beautiful yet so deadly. It always seems a pity to kill them. Here in South Africa we mostly have the Mambas and Cobras to contend with.
There can be a very fine line between species and can be very confusing at times, especially to a layman like me. LOL!!
Hello SA Photographs,
Thanks for commenting. I agree about the confusion between species. There are lots of expressions people use to help them tell whether a coral or other snake is poisonous, but the safest one I know is: “Wear boots; don’t put your hand where you can’t see; don’t touch.” Around here, anyway, snakes rarely bite unless provoked.
I must say I’m grateful not to deal with Mambas and Cobras.