My Memories With Lantana Camara

[Purnendu Kavoori]

Lovely story Himani,
Not exactly relevant, but My own childhood memory of a ‘forbidden’ plant was Dhatura of which the seeds were said to be poisonous. These would be found growing on the roadsides of the cart tracks and footpaths around the village. We were strictly forbidden to eat it, but it was a very attractive seed, red in colour with a black eye. It would grow in bunches and we would collect it and carry a fistful in the pockets of our half pants. I remember being told that goldsmiths used it to weigh gold!.

[Himani]

so nice sir. The seeds you are describing, I think of Abrus precatorius (commonly called ratti), formerly goldsmith use those seeds to weigh gold using a measure called a Ratti, as seeds of Abrus precatorius are very consistent in weight.

They look very good. I still remember that I used to collect those seeds to decorate my flower pots when I was in 7th classes. Even When I was doing my masters from Forest Research Institute Dehradun,I used to collect these seeds as well as Cone of the pine trees (as they are abundant in FRI) to decorate my study table. I love to recall all those old memories.

Thank you very much for providing a very good platform for sharing knowledge.

Please see the image of the seeds to the below-mentioned link.
https://www.google.com/search?q=abrus+precatorius&source=lmns&bih=654&biw=1366&client=firefox-b-d&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi35-Hgj_DqAhXKUn0KHWVSA9sQ_AUoAHoECAEQAA

[Purnendu Kavoori]

Yes, these are the ones. Only 109 rupees for a fistful!

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