The professor's success is based on his studies of the jequirity bean, a red and black seed of a tropical plant that grows abundantly in southern Taiwan.
雞母珠是一種熱帶植物，在台灣南部郊野地方隨處可見，開花後，結成豆莢式的果實，豆莢乾枯後打開，就可以得到幾顆雞母珠，色澤豔紅帶著小黑點，十分可愛，但成分中含有毒素。