The Cutest Weed

This is the cutest weed I’ve ever seen! It is a vine with dark pink tendrils. Inside each puffy ball are two seeds. The ripe seeds are black with white hearts! I didn’t get to inspect the dried up balls with the ripe seeds. Something to look at next time I’m at the farm!

Cardiospermum halicacabum
aka Heart Pea, Balloon Vine, Parol-parolan, Matang Kengkoy
It is an introduced plant and is found throughout the Philippines.

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It has small white flowers.

When I was taking pictures of the plant, Tara walked up to me and ate the hagonoy that was holding the weed up. No, Tara! It’s the cutest weed ever.

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And, you probably shouldn’t be the hagonoy either. It’s toxic!

Update:  Some friends have fond recollections of playing with this weed when they were kids! The puffs make a sound when popped. The black seeds were used for “sumpit” , a type of mouth blow gun.

2nd Update: Photos of the seeds.

2 thoughts on “The Cutest Weed”

  1. Memories of childhood! I loved playing with this. And you’re right about the white heart on the black seed: I was fascinated by the pattern when I was a kid.

    1. Omg, the cutest weed has the cutest seeds! I didn’t play with this weed as a kid. So I went back to the farm and popped a few of the balloons and collected seeds from the dried up balls! Will update this post with pics of the seeds!

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