Calabar bean

English
Physostigma venenosum, the Calabar bean

Etymology

It derives the first part of its taxonomic name from a curious beak-like appendage at the end of the stigma, in the centre of the flower; this appendage, though solid, was supposed to be hollow (hence the name from Ancient Greek φῦσα (phûsa), a bladder, and stigma).

Noun

Calabar bean (plural Calabar beans)

  1. The seed of a tropical leguminous plant, Physostigma venenosum, poisonous to humans.
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