| ordeal bean | The dried seed of Physostigma venenosum (family Leguminosae), a vine of western Africa; it contains the alkaloids physostigmine (eserine), eseramine, eseridine (geneserine) and physovenine; in toxic doses it causes vomiting, colic, salivation, diarrhoea, convulsions, sweating, dyspnea, vertigo, slow pulse, and extreme prostration. Synonym: Calabar bean, ordeal bean. Origin: G. Physa, bellows, + stigma, a mark, spot; so called because of the shape of the stigma (05 Mar 2000) |
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| tonca bean | <botany> See Tonka bean. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| tonka bean | <botany> The seed of a leguminous tree (Dipteryx odorata), native of Guiana. It has a peculiarly agreeable smell, and is employed in the scenting of snuff. Called also tiononquin bean. Alternative forms: tonca bean, tonga bean. Origin: Cf. F. Onca, tonka. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |
| fava bean | The broad bean to which many people react adversely with an acute haemolytic anaemia with sudden breakup of red blood cells (see Favism). Fava beans look like large tan lima beans. They are popular in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, are eaten raw when very young, cooked in soups and many other dishes, and made into fava brittle (like peanut brittle) as candy. The botanical name for fava is Vicia fava. Fava is Italian for bean and refers specifically to the broad bean. Fava beans are the main commercial source of the drug L-DOPA. (12 Dec 1998) |
| florida bean | <botany> The large, roundish, flattened seed of Mucuna urens. See Bean. One of the very large seeds of the Entada scandens. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998) |