Ask a Maldivian who grew up on an island about madhoshi and the first thing they may remember is the seeds: small, glossy and bright red, gathered by the handful for games. The tree that drops them, Adenanthera pavonina, is also one of the islands' useful timber trees.
Known in English as the red bead tree or coral wood, madhoshi is common in the Maldives. It grows in the closed forests of the larger islands and among coconut groves, and sometimes amid thickets of dhiggaa (Hibiscus tiliaceus).
Timber for the dhoni
Madhoshi wood is hard, strong, reddish and long-lasting. In the Maldives it has been used for virtually any part of a dhoni, the traditional boat, and in general carpentry.
Children have long collected the seeds to play two traditional games, ohvalhugondi and thinhama. Elders also recall the seeds being used in the past to weigh gold, because they were believed to be very uniform in weight, roughly a quarter of a gram each. Studies elsewhere have found their weight varies more than legend suggests.
Young leaves are eaten as a vegetable, and roasted seeds are eaten or ground into a coffee-like drink. Raw seeds are toxic and can cause poisoning, so they should never be eaten uncooked. The tree also adds nitrogen to the soil, as many legumes do.
How to recognise it
Madhoshi is a medium to large tree that loses its leaves seasonally and can reach about 20 metres. It often has several stems and a broad, uneven crown. The bark is brown to grey, fairly smooth with fissures, and often patched with lichens.
The leaves are finely divided, with rows of small, pale green, oval leaflets that turn yellow as they age. Tiny, fragrant, star-shaped yellow flowers are packed onto thin spikes that look a little like a rat's tail.
The fruit is a long, curved pod, slightly pinched between the seeds. It turns black when ripe, then dries and twists open to show 8 to 12 seeds. Each seed is about 9 millimetres across, lens-shaped, shiny red and extremely hard. Open pods can hang on the tree for a long time.
Growing madhoshi
The tree tolerates many soil types, from deep, well-drained ground to shallow and rocky soil, though it prefers neutral or slightly acidic conditions. In moist forest it can spread quickly into large stands, where trunks grow tall and straight.
Madhoshi is grown from seed. Because the seed coat is so hard, germination can take up to a year unless the seed is nicked or dipped briefly in boiling water. Nursery seedlings transplant well, and growth is fast after the first year.
The species belongs to the legume family, Fabaceae, and occurs naturally across tropical Asia.