Abrus precatorius seed, Jequirity seed: The beautiful black-red seeds are very poisonous. They are used as beads in rosaries (precatorius is from the Latin 'precor', meaning to pray). Because their attraction they are frequently handled by small children, one chewed seed may be lethal. Toxic principle is abrin (jequiritin), a lectin and hemagglutin, consisting of five glycoproteins - Abrus agglutinin (non-toxic, but haemagglutinator) and the four toxic abrins a-d. Unlike that, folkloristic medicinal uses are known in Asia. The decoction has been used to treat conjunctivitis, skin diseases, nervous diseases, headache and malaria. Said to prevent conception. Constituents: The seeds contain fat, reducing sugar, gallic acid, hepaphorine, abraline, abrin, abrine (N-Methyl-L-tryptophan, not to be confused with the toxalbumin abrin), campestrol, cycloartenol, precatorine, squalene, trigonelline. | Abrus precatorius seed, Jequirity seed: The beautiful black-red seeds are very poisonous. They are used as beads in rosaries (precatorius is from the Latin 'precor', meaning to pray). Because their attraction they are frequently handled by small children, one chewed seed may be lethal. Toxic principle is abrin (jequiritin), a lectin and hemagglutin, consisting of five glycoproteins - Abrus agglutinin (non-toxic, but haemagglutinator) and the four toxic abrins a-d. Unlike that, folkloristic medicinal uses are known in Asia. The decoction has been used to treat conjunctivitis, skin diseases, nervous diseases, headache and malaria. Said to prevent conception. Constituents: The seeds contain fat, reducing sugar, gallic acid, hepaphorine, abraline, abrin, abrine (N-Methyl-L-tryptophan, not to be confused with the toxalbumin abrin), campestrol, cycloartenol, precatorine, squalene, trigonelline. |