Physostigma venenosum
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Physostigma venenosum, the Calabar bean or ordeal bean, is a species of leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae, endemic to tropical Africa, with a seed poisonous to humans. It derives the first part
Physostigma venenosum Köhler–s Medizinal Pflanzen 237
Trial by ordeal
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Trial by ordeal was an ancient judicial practice by which the guilt or innocence of the accused was determined by subjecting them to a painful, or at least an unpleasant, usually dangerous experience.
Physostigma venenosum
…the end if four or more times the fatal dose has been ingested. The people of Old Calabar in present-day Nigeria used Calabar beans or 'E-ser-e' as an ordeal poison, and administered them to persons accused of witchcraft or other crimes. It was considered to affect only the guilty; if a person accused of a crime…
Water-ordeal; miniature from the Luzerner Schilling
After being accused of adultery Cunigunde of Luxembourg proved her innocence by walking over red-hot plowshares.
Peter Bartholomew undergoing the ordeal of fire, by Gustave Doré.
Sita in an agnipariksha, Yuddha Kanda