Abrus

Plant Characteristics

Cultivation

Scientific Names

Read about Abrus in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Abrus (from abros, delicate, referring to leaves). Leguminosae. Deciduous greenhouse climber, or used South outdoors for screens. Roots a poor substitute for licorice, and the seeds are violently poisonous. Needs strong heat for indoor culture. Propagation is by seeds or by cuttings under glass in sand. The genus consists of usually creeping or climbing woody herbs with primately compound lvs.: fls. small, in dense racemes on axillary peduncles or short branches; calyx bell-shaped, the teeth very short; corolla pea-like, much exserted; stamens 9, in a tube. Abrus precatorius, Linn. Crab's-eye Vine. Weather-Plant. Fig. 64. Height 10-12 ft.; frequently trailing over the ground S.: lfts. oblong, in numerous pairs: fls. varying from rose to white: seeds bright scarlet, with a black spot, used by Buddhists for rosaries, in India as standards of weight, and in the W. Indies in bead work. Seeds irritant; also used as an abortive in U. S. A variety with a cream-colored bean is offered by Reasoner Bros.: Tropics generally.—The claims made for its weather-foretelling properties are exposed by Oliver in Kew Bull. Jan., 1890. It does, however, "go to sleep" during storms, but this is a feature of other legumes. Sometimes confounded with Rhynchosia phaseoloides (R. precatoria), which has similar seeds, but is a very different plant with large, 3-foliolate, bean-like lvs. N. Taylor CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

External links

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