Mexican jumping beans

Japanese: メキシコトビマメ（英語表記）Mexican jumping beans

Also known as Mexican jumping beans. Although it is called a bean, it is not a legume, but the seed of a Mexican plant of the Sebastiania genus, Euphorbiaceae family, about the size of a bottle gourd seed. Three seeds form a cluster, and each seed has two flat sides and one round outer side. Since these seeds move when heated, they have long been called jumping seeds or Devil's beans, and are sold as souvenirs with various compartments drawn on paper with concentric circles drawn on them.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

メキシコハネマメともいう。マメというがマメ科植物ではなく，メキシコ産トウダイグサ科のSebastiania属の植物の種子で，ユウガオの種子くらいの大きさ。3個が一つの塊をなし，一つの種子は2面が平面で外側の1面は円い。暖めたりするとこの種子が動くので古くからjumping seed,Devil’s beanなどとも呼ばれ，土産物として，紙に同心円を書き，種々の区画をつくったものを添えて売られている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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