Abrus precatorius

Plant Characteristics

Habit		vine-climber
Height:	⇕	35 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 35.
Width:	⇔	3 ft"ft" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 3.
Lifespan:	⌛	perennial
Poisonous:	☠	seeds toxic
Bloom:	❀	early fall, mid fall, late fall

Cultivation

Exposure:	☼	sun, part-sun
Features:	✓	flowers, naturalizes, invasive
USDA Zones:		10 to 12
Flower features:	❀	white

Scientific Names

Abrus >

precatorius >

Abrus precatorius, known commonly as Jequirity, Crab's Eye, Rosary Pea, 'John Crow' Bead, Precatory bean, Indian Licorice, Akar Saga, Giddee Giddee or Jumbie Bead in Trinidad & Tobago, is a slender, perennial climber that twines around trees, shrubs, and hedges. It is a legume with long, pinnate-leafleted leaves. The seed contains the toxic poison abrin. The plant is native to Indonesia and grows in tropical and subtropical areas of the world where it has been introduced. It has a tendency to become weedy and invasive where it has been introduced.

Read about Abrus precatorius in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Abrus precatorius. Crab's-eye Vine. Weather-Plant. 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 confused with Rhynchosia phaseoloides (syn. R. precatoria), which has similar seeds, but is a very different plant with large, 3-foliolate, bean-like lvs.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 It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article.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.

Gallery

• 

  Abrus precatorius from Koehler's Medicinal-Plants

• 

  Bright red seeds of A. precatorius are strung as jewelry

• 

  Abrus precatorius leaves & flowers

• 

  Abrus precatorius flowers

External links

• w:Abrus precatorius. Some of the material on this page may be from Wikipedia, under the Creative Commons license.
• Abrus precatorius QR Code (Size 50, 100, 200, 500)