Rosary pea (Abrus precatorius) is a slender, herbaceous, perennial climber in the bean family Fabaceae. The plant is native to Asia and Australia.
🌿The vine usually twines around trees, shrubs and hedges. It has no special organs of attachment.
🌿The leaves are long, pinnate compound leaves with opposite leaflets .
🌿Pinkish-white flowers are produced in tightly clustered racemes, that are much shorter than the leaves
🌿The fruit is a flat, oblong pod with sharp deflexed beak and has a silky-texture. The seedpod curls back when it opens to reveal the seeds.
🌿The plant is best known for its seeds, which are used as beads and in percussion instruments, and which are toxic because of the presence of abrin. Ingestion of a single seed, well chewed, can be fatal to both adults and children.
🌿There are two varieties, one with white seeds and the other with red seeds.
The white variety is used to prepare oil that is claimed to be an aphrodisiac. A tea is made from the leaves and used for fevers, coughs and colds. Seeds are poisonous and therefore must only consumed after proper heat treatment.
🌿Seeds were also used in jewelry making and weight measures in olden days.
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Plants of Singapore