Calabar-bean definition

kălə-bär
The poisonous seed of a tropical western African woody vine (Physostigma venenosum) in the pea family, the source of physostigmine.
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The large, brown, poisonous seed of a woody, leguminous tropical African vine (Physostigma venenosum) used in medicine as a source of physostigmine.
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The poisonous seed of a tropical western African woody vine (Physostigma venenosum) in the pea family, the source of physostigmine.
noun
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The seed of a tropical leguminous plant, Physostigma venenosum, poisonous to humans.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
calabar-bean
Plural:
Calabar beans

Origin of calabar-bean

  • After Calabar , a town of southeast Nigeria

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition

  • 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 (phusa), a bladder, and stigma).

    From Wiktionary