''Entada gigas'', commonly known as the monkey-ladder, sea bean, cœur de la mer or sea heart, is a species of

flowering Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...

liana A liana is a long-Plant stem, stemmed Woody plant, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the Canopy (biology), canopy in search of direct sunlight. T ...

in the

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

family,

Fabaceae Fabaceae () or Leguminosae,International Code of Nomen ...

of the Mimosa subfamily, which is often raised to family rank (Mimosaceae). They are native to

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

, the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

, northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

, and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. It is notable for having the family's largest seedpods.

Description

Generative characteristics

The fruit measures across and can reach in length. There have been reports of pods up to in length. This pod, like all

legumes Legumes are plants in the pea family Fabaceae (or Leguminosae), or the fruit or seeds of such plants. When used as a dry grain for human consumption, the seeds are also called pulses. Legumes are grown agriculturally, primarily for human consu ...

, is a single

carpel Gynoecium (; ; : gynoecia) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more ...

, the largest carpel of any known plant. Inside the pods are ten to fifteen

seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be Sowing, sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds ...

s, each of which have a diameter of and a thickness of . The seeds contain a hollow cavity, which gives them

buoyancy Buoyancy (), or upthrust, is the force exerted by a fluid opposing the weight of a partially or fully immersed object (which may be also be a parcel of fluid). In a column of fluid, pressure increases with depth as a result of the weight of t ...

. After being washed by rain into rivers and then the ocean, the seeds of ''E. gigas'' drift long distances on

ocean current An ocean current is a continuous, directed movement of seawater generated by a number of forces acting upon the water, including wind, the Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbeling, and temperature and salinity differences. Depth contours, sh ...

s. Seed buoyancy and vitality lasts at least two years.

Use

In Gabon it is used to make ropes and nets.Fibres.
p.153. (2012). Niederlande: Prota Foundation. File:Sea heart (Entada gigas) seeds.jpg, Sea heart (''Entada gigas'') seeds File:Monkey_Ladder_Vine_canopy.jpg, A canopy formed over lianas File:Entada_gigas1.jpg, ''Entada gigas'' seeds, resembling hearts

References

External links

Journey of a Sea Heart (Entada gigas)

gigas Gigas may refer to: * Gigas, one of the Gigantes (Giants) in Greek mythology * Gigas (company), a Spanish cloud services company * Guigass, a snow ape like kaiju from ''Ultraman'' * ''Codex Gigas'', a medieval manuscript * gigue The gigue ( , ...

Flora of Africa Flora of the Caribbean Flora of Central America Flora of Colombia Flora of Venezuela Decorative fruits and seeds Pantropical flora Flora without expected TNC conservation status {{Mimosoideae-stub