The tagua nut tree is a small understory tree of 20 to 30 feet. Tagua (”tah-gwa”), also called ‘ivory nut’ or ‘vegetable ivory’, is primarily the dried seedpod of the Tagua Palm tree which grows in tropical rainforests of South America. The cellular structure and grain of the tagua nut is similar to that of elephant or animal ivory. In the late eighteen hundreds up through World War II, before the inventings.
carving made with a tagua nut
Tagua nuts grow in large armoured clusters with each cluster containing many nuts. They range in size from a small olive to an orange and average about the size of a walnut. Before the nut matures, it has a milky sweet liquid in the center.
These are spóra pendants made using the tagua nut:
