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FormerOhioGuy,
Since you are knowledgeable about plants I am wondering if you'd be able to tell me just WHAT I've brought back to Texas from St. Croix. When we were wandering around the ruins of the Grapetree Hotel I found several light brown round pod things about the size of a ping pong ball that I'm sure must be from a plant... maybe a grapetree? They were scattered all over the floor. Customs didn't even look in my luggage and I made it home with them. Now one rattles when I shake it like there's something loose inside. I thought about planting them here to see what came up, then was afraid I might have a "Little Shop of Horrors" experience on my hands, so just keep them in a glass cup. Did you see these things when you were at Grapetree and do you have any idea what they might be?
Posted : September 12, 2004 4:34 am
I honestly don't know what "light brown round pod things" could be. We have a number of trees that produce fruit like this. Grapetree fruits are much smaller than a Ping Pong ball.
How did they get inside "all over the floor"? Were they near the windows, and the tradewinds blew them in?
I would put on a pair of plastic gloves and cut one open. If they are indeed fruits, remove the seeds, let them dry out for a few days, and plant them in containers, not directly in your yard. That way, you've got them under control.
How did you like the ruins?
Posted : September 12, 2004 10:07 am
Hello Paula,
Are they really very round or more of an roundish apple shape but smaller then an apple... it might be manchineel fruit... in which case don't bother to plant it, the leaves have poisonous sap.
I found a great site with drift seeds with photos and labels... take a look and see if you see your seed there.
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/pldec398.htm
If you scroll down the page a little you will find the labeled seed chart and furthter down the page is a section about manchineel trees with pictures of leaves, fruit - dry and green... so you can see if that matches.
--Islander
Posted : September 12, 2004 4:33 pm
Topic starter
Well I think the mystery may have been solved for me! I went under the web site you recommended Islander and the first picture of the drift seed and fruits that had been found on St. John had my souvenir "pod" in it I believe... It is labeled "G" and called a tamanu (Calophyllum inophyllum) and from what I have read about it further down the page is harmless. The article says they are seeds that drift in the ocean and are found on wind-swept beaches especially around hurricane season and that a tide will push them up onshore. So I guess that when Hugo hit the Grapetree Hotel some of them were washed in there.
FOG-- I was amazed at how Grapetree Hotel looks now! I remember how it looked back in the 1970's and how beautiful that beach was and just can't believe the destruction. Did you notice all the bats under the roof of the little outside bar that is still intact?! I found my seed pods in the middle of all that mess on the floor in the main building. I was surprised that no one had dug out the stairwell to see what was there. Maybe they did and another storm pushed more debris down there.
Thank you everyone for helping me solve my souvenir "pod" mystery!
Posted : September 13, 2004 2:18 am
