Gunci

Abrus precatorius is a deciduous, perennial and thornless climber.
It is a high-climbing, twining, or trailing woody vine with slender herbaceous branches.

The stems are numerous, scarcely woody, slender, glabrous and with long internodes.

The leaves are alternate, petioled (1 cm long petiole), 10-15 cm long, even-pinnately compound with 10-15 pairs of leaflets.
The leaflets are opposite, oblong, thinly membranous, slightly hairy, 1.5-2.5 long and 0.6-0.8 cm wide, with margins entire, base and apex obtuse, apex apiculate. They terminate in a bristle and they have a 1-1.5 mm long petiolule.
The rachis is thickened at the base, very slender, channeled and glabrous and ending in a spine. 
At the base of a leaf, there are small, setaceous and 2.5 mm long stipules.

The flowers are crowded in dense clusters, terminal or axillary. They are clustered at the swollen nodes of the rachis. This pseudo-raceme is 10 cm long (shorter than leaves) and has a 3 cm long peduncle. The flowers are 1 cm across, shortly stalked (2 mm long pedicel).
The bracts are deciduous and bracteols are appressed to the calyx. 
The calyx tube is narrowly campanulate, pubescent (likely silky), 2-3 mm long with a truncate apex and very short and obscure lobes. 
The corolla is composed of clawed, white to pink or pale violet petals. The standard (banner) is broadly ovate, auricled, 1.5 cm long and 0.8-1 cm wide. The standard base is adherent to the staminal sheath. The wings are narrow, oblong and falcate, 0.8 cm long and 0.3-0.4 cm wide. The keels are curved, 1 cm long and 0.2-0.3 cm wide. 
The stamina sheath is 8 mm long. Androecium is composed of 9 monodelphuous stamens with nearly equal filaments (2-3 mm long) and uniform anthers. 
The pistil is composed of a 8 mm sub-sessile and pubescent ovary, a very short (0.5 mm) and incurved style with a capitate stigma. 
 

The fruit is a short, oblong, pilose (finely silky), winkled and thick pod, 3-4 cm long and 1-1.5 cm wide. It is turgid with a sharp deflexed beak.
This pod splits before falling to reveal the seeds.

There are 3-8 polished and hard seeds in a pod.
The seeds are nearly globose, 6-7 mm long, scarlet coloured with black lateral spot at the base (around the hilum).
Sometimes the seeds are black with a white eye and more rarely pure white.

The oil made from Abrus precatorius seeds is sometimes used as an ingredient in Indian hair products.

The seeds were used by jewellers as a unit of weight. The unit is known as ratti (the weight of one seed = 1 ratti and 8 ratti = 1 Gram). Formerly, Indians used this measure to weigh gold.

The finely powdered seeds are used by jewellers to increase adhesion when soldering delicate ornaments. 

The seeds are used for making bracelets, necklaces, rosaries, etc. 

The fibre extracted from the stem is woven into baskets.