Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The poisonous seed of a tropical western African woody vine (Physostigma venenosum) in the pea family, the source of physostigmine.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun See
bean .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
seed of atropical leguminous plant , Physostigma venenosum,poisonous tohumans .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun dark brown highly poisonous seed of the calabar-bean vine; source of physostigmine and used in native witchcraft
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[After Calabar, a town of southeast Nigeria.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
It derives the first part of its scientific 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, a bladder, and stigma).
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Examples
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