n., pl., -cos.
- Any of several tropical American plants, as in the genus Lonchocarpus, that contain a substance that can stun or paralyze fish.
- 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.
[American Spanish, from Spanish barbasco, mullein, alteration (possibly influenced by barba, beard) of verbasco, from Latin verbascum.]
