A dark fungus that grows on rye and other grains, containing powerful drug compounds that can cause serious poisoning if consumed.
From Middle French 'argot' (rooster spur), because the fungus looks like a rooster's spur on grain. The fungus *Claviceps purpurea* produces the distinctive curved, purplish-black growths that inspired the name.
Ergot poisoning (ergotism) caused mass hallucinations and madness in medieval Europe, and some historians believe it sparked the Salem Witch Trials—people weren't actually witches, they were eating contaminated grain.
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