Donkey Eye
Scientific name: Mucuna sloanei The brown seed known as ‘Donkey eye’ begins life in inland forests borne on a climbing vine with bright yellow flowers, which overgrows other vegetation. The plant produces seed pods about 18 cm (7 in.) long. If the overgrown tree is along a stream bank, the floating seeds may find their way into rivers and get deposited along the coast by the waves and currents.15 Finding Donkey Eye seeds on the beaches of the east and south coast of Trinidad is a regular occurrence and generations of children have used them to prank others as the seeds emit heat when rubbed...
Recognising the Importance of Our Seagrass Meadows
March 1, 2023 marks the first-ever United Nations recognised World Seagrass Day. The day is being commemorated to raise public awareness on the importance of seagrass meadows and to recognise the importance of seagrasses to the health and well-being of the planet, as well as to the people, communities, flora and fauna that rely on them. Seagrasses are marine flowering plants that grow in the intertidal and subtidal zones along shallow tropical and temperate coasts. They are very productive, faunally rich and ecologically important marine resources that provide nursery habitats for several commercially important species such as conch, fish and lobster and a major food source...