A genus of tropical climbing plants, most famously including the rosary pea, known for its small bright red seeds with black tips.
From Arabic 'abr' or 'abar' (meaning graceful or colorful), borrowed into scientific Latin as a genus name when botanists cataloged tropical plants.
Abrus precatorius seeds were strung into rosaries and prayer beads across Africa and Asia for centuries before anyone realized they contain abrin, a toxin as deadly as ricin—making it one of nature's prettiest poisons.
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.