Botanical name: Canna indica    Family: Cannaceae (Canna family)

One of the most commonly used beads in natural seed jewelry comes from a beautiful wildflower of the Caribbean region and tropical America. It is commonly called "Indian shot". This lovely wildflower is common along roadsides and open fields throughout the North-East India, especially near cultivated garden. The spherical black seeds of Indian shot are so hard and perfectly round that they resemble oversized buckshot from a shotgun shell. In fact, they are so dense that they readily sink in water. Under a hand lens the seeds are minutely-pitted, like the surface of pocked metal. The seeds are called "Indian shot" because of their superficial resemblance to lead shot ammunition of the 18th and 19th centuries Throughout tropical regions of the world the shiny black beads are strung into earrings and necklaces, often as spacers between larger beads or mixed with silver trinkets and gemstones. The species name indica is a misnomer - this plant is not a native of India, but West Indies.

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The flower labeled Indian Shot is ...