barbasco

bar·bas·co  (bär-bäsk)

n. pl. bar·bas·cos

1. Any of several tropical American plants, as in the genus Lonchocarpus, that contain a substance that can stun or paralyze fish.

2. Any of several Mexican plants of the genus Dioscorea having a large, inedible root that yields an extract used as a raw material for synthetic steroid hormones.

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[American Spanish, from Spanish barbasco, mullein, alteration (possibly influenced by barba, beard) of verbasco, from Latin verbascum.]

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

barbasco - West Indian shrub or small tree having leathery saponaceous leaves and extremely hard wood Jacquinia keyensis, joewood genus Jacquinia, Jacquinia - sometimes placed in family Myrsinaceae bush, shrub - a low woody perennial plant usually having several major stems