Adenanthera Pavonina, Red Lucky Seeds - 0.5 kg Seeds

Adenanthera pavonina, known as red lucky seed, manjadi or rakta gunja, is a handsome deciduous tree grown across the warmer parts of India. It is best known for its brilliant, glossy, lens-shaped scarlet seeds, traditionally used as beads, in jewellery and historically as a goldsmith's weight (the original 'ratti').

The tree provides hard, durable red timber used for furniture and cabinet work, the foliage serves as fodder and green manure, and the seeds and bark have folk medicinal uses; as a nitrogen-fixing legume it also enriches the soil. With its spreading crown and ornamental seeds it is widely planted as an avenue, shade and ornamental tree.

• Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)
• Native region: tropical Asia, including India
• Mature height: 15-20 m
• Growth rate: moderate to fast

The very hard seed coat must be broken before sowing: give a hot-water treatment (pour near-boiling water over the seeds and soak as it cools for about 24 hours) or nick and scarify the coat. Sow 1-2 cm deep in a well-drained nursery mix; germination usually takes 14-21 days. Raise the seedlings in poly bags and transplant during the monsoon.