What is this Mucuna seed & what is the chance it will grow?

I received some "Mucuna species" seeds that were packed airtight but are a few years old.

They are about the size of a nickel and a half inch thick. They are black-to-chestnut colored, lighter at the edge, and the edge has a 1/8" wide black line three quarters of the way around the edge.

Sorry I don't have a camera to send pics.

Does this description ring any bells? Can anyone give me any tips on germinating them?

Maybe a better question is whether it is a species that is at all interesting to grow........

I finally got off my duff and did some research. It looks like Mucuna urens/Red Hamburger Bean: http://www.seabean.com/guide/Mucuna_urens/

Not much to look at.

I started with six, but scraped the sides of one and have been trying to start it. Supposedly, as a "sea bean" it will travel great distances over long periods by water. So, perhaps, this bodes well for them still being viable.

If anyone is an avid collector of Mucunae and wants them, I wonder if I could get a couple of seeds of the red-, yellow- or black-blooming ones or Jade Vine.....

My 'sea bean' germinated and is a lacy-leafed, viney and spiney plant - it has grown about 2' since last fall - I am just letting it 'do its thing' - know nothing about them.

I found some on Cocoa Beach years ago and planted them. For the first 2 years they just grew like mad. Then it dawned on me that it might be photo-periodic (like an Xmas cactus). The vine had grown on the fence and then up into a white orchid tree. In October I started using a 2-10-10 bloom special. By the 1st of Dec along each leaf was a 'stringer' 6"+ with the flower buds attached to them. By 2nd week of Dec a few scarlet flowers started opening. By 3rd week of Dec we had a hard freeze and zap! They died.
If the freeze hadn't come I would have had something that looked like scarlet wisteria.
Ifyou want to grow these and have them flower, you might need a greenhouse and no light after sunset.

I have 2 of the Mucuna albertisii seeds fixing to pop thru the soil in a pot. I had to use a dremel tool just to get past the hard coat to the white spot..Then put ithem in a thermos bottle on account of using hot water..for 5 days..change the water and use hot water...They finally cracked thru and now in a pot..

Will take pics as they grow...

I've read of people drilling all the way through the seed to get moisture into it.

The thermos is an interesting idea. How hot is the water you used?

..just hot enough not to burn my finger...lol.. I have a wide mouth kind of thermos..the seed will enlarge threes time bigger ..and will get stuck in a narrow mouth size...so be aware..lol...

This message was edited Jul 7, 2010 8:37 AM

It finally popped thru the soil, one of the seeds sprouted..will start new thread on it..lol