Cowhage

noun

1. The hairs of the pods of a leguminous plant, Mucuna pruriens. The pod is covered with a thick coating of short, stiff, brittle brown hairs, which are retrorsely serrate toward the top. They easily penetrate the skin, and produce an intolerable itching. They are employed medicinally as a mechanical vermifuge.
2. The entire pods of M. pruriens.
3. The plant itself.
4. In the West Indies, a euphorbiaceous shrub, Acidoton urens, bearing capsules covered with stinging hairs. The twining cowhage of the same region is a woody climber of the same order, Tragia volubilis, with hispid capsules.
5. A leguminous climbing plant of the genus Mucuna, having crooked pods covered with sharp hairs, which stick to the fingers, causing intolerable itching. The spiculæ are sometimes used in medicine as a mechanical vermifuge.