A few years ago I first heard the term “Sea-Beans.” Of course, since I love to beachcomb, I was entranced by the thought of something new to search for on my beach walks.

The definition of Sea Beans, according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary is as follows: “Any of various beans or showy seeds of tropical origin that are frequently carried by ocean currents to remote shores and often used as ornaments.”

The hunt was on. Happily, for the bibliophile within me, I found a terrific book on the topic: Sea-Beans from the Tropics. I have found a few “sea-beans” on my beach walks, but most have been the throwaways of beach picnics, fruit pits, etc. That does not mean I have given up the hunt. One of my best days of finding “beach drift” was on the shore of the Chesapeake bay. I don’t think what I found that day could be considered sea-beans, instead perhaps I should call my finds on that occasion “Bay-Beans.” 🙂

My dream is to find some tropical sea-beans and somehow sprout them. It has been done, and there is a whole chapter in the book on the how’s and why’s of growing sea-beans.

Another happy find was re-connecting with a link I had lost, a community page for sea-beans with a link to other forums. You can check out the sea-bean community page here: Sea-Bean Community

If you are an avid beachcomber, you will love this book. I checked Amazon.com today to see if the book is still available. It is, but oh my, along with the book I found several others listed that look interesting and appear to also be full of great information. It’s going to be hard to keep them out of my "Shopping Cart."

Listings of sea-bean books can be found here: Sea Beans from the Tropics and Others

I searched some WordPress bloggers to see what they thought or wrote of sea-beans. I found some terrific posts. Take a look: Sea-Beans on the Keys / Sea Beans and Beachcomber’s Festival / Danielle’s Dives – Sea-Beans

Happy Hunting!