A tropical plant native to South America, or a poisonous substance extracted from such plants, historically used in fishing.
From Spanish 'barbasco,' derived from indigenous South American languages. The term entered Spanish during colonial contact with Amazonian peoples who used the plant's toxins to stun fish for harvesting.
Indigenous Amazonian peoples discovered that barbasco root could paralyze fish without making them toxic to eat—it's a selective poison that affects gills but not flesh, showing sophisticated knowledge of biochemistry centuries before modern science explained why!
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