See Also: ordeal bean(medicine)
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Medicine(medicine)

ordeal bean (medicine)


ordeal bean -->
physostigma


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