Witnessed by: Western
Calabar bean (Physostigma venenosum), of the Fabaceae family. Large woody climbing vine bearing pendulous pods of dark chocolate-brown beans; native range: riverine forests of West Africa, chiefly the Niger delta and old Calabar. Globally recognized as ordeal bean, chop-nut, esere bean in English. The part used is ripe seed. Seed hard, kidney-shaped, chocolate-brown, nearly tasteless then faintly acrid, deadly poisonous.
In this cross-tradition database, we analyze how this substance operates across world medicine systems — tracking its traditional tastes, temperatures, tissue affinities, post-digestive effects, and planetary correspondences across Ayurveda, Unani, and Western herbalism.
CALABAR BEAN
IDENTITY
Name
- Common
- calabar bean
- Scientific name
- Physostigma venenosum Balf.
- Family
- Fabaceae
Form
- Part used
- ripe seed
PROPERTIES
Nature
Taste
how the plant declares itself on the tongue
- Western
- bland · acrid
Temperature
- Western
- cool
Affinity
where in the body it travels
Organs / channels
- Western
- nervous system · nerves · heart
PRACTICE
Virtue
Actions
- Western
- cholinergic (anticholinesterase), miotic, myotic, spasmogenic, antidote to atropine
Cautions
Contraindications: not for domestic or self-administration; asthma, bradycardia, intestinal or urinary obstruction
Toxicity: profound cholinergic crisis with salivation, colic, bradycardia, convulsions and respiratory paralysis; a small dose of seed can kill
Interactions
- Western
- anticholinergics: direct pharmacological antagonism, each reversing the other · cardiac glycosides: additive vagal slowing of the heart
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