CP in Vanuatu?

[williamhoyer]

Im in Vanuatu as PC volunteer. I have been looking for CP on a few islands and while in central Santo Is the villagers told me of a tree with a seed that would kill birds and insects. They said the bird lands on the tree trys to eat the seed or lands on it and it sticks to it. While struggeling it rubbs up against other seeds and becomes land bound by the weight of the seeds stuck to it. Insects are also killed by the seeds, they actually take them in the huts and use them to keep the flies down.

All that being said i have not seen the tree or fruit yet, and it fruits in December. I am planning a trip back to observe. I know there are species that have seeds that can kill insects, i was wondering what families they are in and if that family is present in Vanuatu. I have never seen a flora of Vanuatu, and do not know if one is in existence.

Any way, if anyone has herd of this before please tell me. I go back to site in one week then will not have internet for another 6 months or so, ill check the thread until i leave.

William Hoyer

[BarryRice]

Hey William,

It sounds like you're referring to a morphed version of a summary of "bird lime". This is a paste that was sometimes spread on a branch of a tree, and was very sticky and gooey. Birds that land on it are unable to escape. I don't think this is done anymore.

Bird lime was made from a number of different materials, usually from the bark or fruit of trees or other plants.

Current understanding of carnivorous plants does not include anything of the sort that you describe.

[didge]

This report from the locals is probably referring to one of the Pisonia species that certainly do trap birds. One species is native to mainland NZ and they are common on many Pacific Islands.
See
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisonia Cheers Didge.

[ICPS-bob]

From
www.fao.org/docrep/u2440e/u2440e05.htm

Resins are sometimes, though nowadays more seldom, used for waterproofing boats and baskets, as glue, incense and fumigants. For example, the sticky fruit juice of Cordia dichotoma is used throughout Vanuatu as a temporary glue. Resin from Evodia species is used as a mosquito repellent and some Canarium was used as a light mosquito repellent and also as a canoe sealant. Older men in both Vanuatu and Tonga remember using the sap from the breadfruit tree as glue and also for trapping birds. Moreover, the sticky fruits of Pisonia umbellifera and Pisonia grandis were used to trap birds in Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.