Hello, this is my 1st posting... i recently visited hawaii this last christmas. walking around one evening we found a pretty large gangly tree that had large brown pods at the base of it. they were around 1 to 1.5 feet long, very cylindrical and very dark brown. they looked like billy sticks! we took a few home as they looked interesting. we could hear seeds inside when we shook them. upon opening them up (or i should say cracking them open, the pod skin was around 2mm think and brittle) we discovered that there were two rows of seeds down the length of the pod and each seed was seperated from the next by a membrane with a sticky tar like substance. they also smelt pretty rank! the seeds are just under 1cm and are a honey brown colour. i asked a few locals at the airport before i left and no one seemed to know what i was talking about. i have looked all over the internet and even in hawaiian tree books and i just cant find a picture of these pods! does anybody have any idea of what i'm describing?
Check out Kigelia africana (an African tree, not native to Hawaii of course, but widely planted in tropical areas).
hello Michael, i looked up your suggestion. Kigelia africana is not the tree. i do remember seeing this tree while in hawaii... it had these amazing 'yam like' things hanging from vines on the tree... we carried one of those home as well! however this is not it. the pod we had was around 1 inch in diameter and over a foot long. it really looked like a dark brown stick! thats what we thought it was untill we picked it up. thank you for your reply though! we brought around 20 of the seeds home. i've placed 5 of them in some wet paper towel and they are beginning to germinate... id just love to know what it is that im going to attempt to grow! *dalyn
heres a link to the pod i was trying to describe... thanks again tony! *d http://www.swsbm.com/Illustrations/Cassia_fistula.gif
