English: Sea-purse; Sea Purse.
Synonym: Crepidotropis; Hymenospron; Lepidamphora.
Region; tropical Africa, Guinea-Bissau, Cameroon, Angola; South America, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Guyanas; Panama, Guatemala; pantropical sea-drifted.
Habitat: wet forests; thickets; coastal forests; tropical seashores; sea level.
Content: antinutritional substances, largely removed by cooking or sprouting; lectins; 14% protein, 8% fats and 58% carohydrates.
Use: food, emergency food; food thickener; medicine; materials, economic values in culinary and pharmaceutical industries; worn as pendant, used in necklaces; sees in child's games.
BotanyShrub; vigorous; evergreen; climber; up to 15 m tall.
Stem: twining, woody; up to 5 cm thick; branches terete, at first pubescent.
Leaves: leaflets subcoriaceous, acute or obtuse, hairy beneath, 10 to 15 cm long.
Fruit: pods; 10 to 15 to 20 cm long, around 5 cm wide, around 2 cm thick; with 3 to 4 seeds,
Seed: endosperm rich in gum; hard biconvex; 2 to 3 cmm in diameter; tan, brown, or dusky coloured; rarely mottled; contain oil, unsaturated fatty acids, especially oleic acid; saturated fatty acids, especially palmitic acid and stearic acid.