Information sources http://wildlifeofhawaii.com/flowers/1246/abrus-precatorius-rosary http://plants.ifas.ufl.edu/node/23 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/abrus_precatorius http://www.cbit.uq.edu.au/software/enviroweeds/example/abrus_pre catorius_ subsp. _ africanus.htm http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54030/#b http://wildlifeofhawaii.com/flowers/1246/abrus-precatorius-rosarypea/ http://www.inchem.org/documents/pims/plant/abruspre.htm Photography Locations Green Business Centre, Hyderabad http://202.160.161.9:8080/nwhgi/nwhgi/showspecies http://luirig.altervista.org/schedenam/fnam.php?taxon=abrus+precato http://guruajithsecrets.blogspot.in/2012/01/kunni-abrusprecatorius.html http://rufino-osorio.blogspot.in/2012/01/okeeheelee-county-parknature-center.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/file:abrus_precatorius_w_img_1578.jpg / iki/fil t i http://131.230.176.4/imgs/pso/r/fabaceae_abrus_precatorius_6461 http://www.flickriver.com/photos/cledry/4368939815/ http://perthrospagansupplies.weebly.com/jewellery--charms.html http://home.scarlet.be/~tsh77586/latham2.htm http://www.imagejuicy.com/images/plants/a/abrus/1/ http://www.metafro.be/prelude/view_country?cc=bj http://www.floracafe.com/photosearch.aspx?type=all
Origin: Northern Australia, South-eastern Asia, Tropical Asia, Western Pacific Naturalized: All tropical regions Cultivated: Widely cultivated t as a garden ornamental Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Fabales Family: Fabaceae Length: 10 m or more
Pronunciation: Abrus (AY-brus) precatorius (prek-uh-tor-ee-us)
Common names: Jequirity, Crab's Eye, Rosary Pea, John Crow Bead, Precatory bean, Indian Licorice, Akar Saga, Giddee Giddee, Jumbie Bead Hindi : Rati; Gaungchi; Gunchi; Gunja (ग ज ) Bengali : Kunch; Koonch Gujarati : Gumchi; Chanothi Kannada : Gulaganji (ಗ ಲಗ ಜ ) Malayalam : Kunni; Gundumani Punjabi : Mulati Tamil : Gundumani; Kunthamani Telugu : Guruvinda (గ ద)
Widespread in most tropical* and sub tropical* areas of India * As marked in red boundary in the Map Habitat : A common weed of roadsides, old gardens, disturbed sites, waste areas A climbing plant with slender twining stems
Colorful seeds of Rosary pea are highly poisonous. Even a single seed can be fatal to humans.
Stem Older stems are covered in a smooth-textured or wrinkled brown bark Younger stems are generally smooth, pubescent and greenish in color
Leaves The alternately arranged leaves (5-13 cm long) are pinnate with 5-17 pairs of leaflets These leaflets (5-25 mm long and 2-8 mm wide) are glabrous, oblong in shape, and have rounded tips
Flowers The small whitish, pink, mauve or purplish peashaped flowers (about 10 mm long) are borne in dense slightly elongated clusters Individual flowers have five small green sepals, which are fused together at the base into a short tube
Fruit The fruit is a flat and relatively broad pod (20-35 mm long and 12-1515 mm wide) with a sharp point These pods are sparsely covered in hairs and have a rough texture
Seeds Each pod, when mature, usually has 3-7 oval-shaped (i.e. ellipsoid) seeds The very distinctive seeds (5-7 mm long and 4-5 mm wide) are bright scarlet-red in color with a large black spot
Seeds The colorful seeds are highly poisonous and contain abrin, a toxin similar to ricin but even more poisonous Ingesting even a single seed can be fatal if the seed is cracked open or the protective seed coat is not intact
Uses Necklaces and other ornaments made from the seeds are worn by both children and adults
Uses Formerly Indians used these seeds to weigh gold using a measure called a Ratti, where 8 Ratti = 1 Masha; 12 Masha = 1 Tola (11.6 Grams)
Medicinal Uses A tea is made from the leaves and used to treat fevers, coughs and colds
Medicinal Uses In Siddha medicine the white variety is used to prepare oil that is claimed to be an aphrodisiac
Medicinal Uses In the Indian System of Medicine, the seeds are used for paralysis, headache, dysentery, diarrhoea, leprosy, ulcer, nervous disorders, alopecia, as well as anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antibacterial, antitumor and sexual stimulant
Medicinal Uses An ethanolic extract of was found to have potent antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and analgesic potential
Medicinal Uses The plant is also used in some traditional medicine to treat scratches and sores, and wounds caused by dogs, cats, and mice
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