Every week on the beach, I never know what I’ll come across. Creepy dolls, illegal fishing gear and even more than 40 messages in bottles have all made appearances over the years.

But this week, something square and woody caught my eye, and I knew right away — it was a box fruit.

Box fruits are one of those rare treasures beachcombers love to spot. They look just like a little wooden cube, about the size of a softball, and they feel light and spongy when you pick them up.

What makes them so special is where they come from. These fruits grow on the Barringtonia asiatica tree, originally found in the Indo-Pacific, but have been planted on Caribbean Islands, which is likely where these seeds drifted from. That means when one washes up here in Texas, it has likely been traveling the ocean

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