barbasco

[bahr-bas-koh, -bah-skoh]

noun

plural

barbascos 

1. a shrub or small tree, Jacquinia barbasco, of tropical America, the source of a substance used to stun fish so they can be caught easily.

2. any similar plant yielding a substance that stuns or kills fish.

3. the fish-stunning or fish-killing substance obtained from these plants.

Word History and Origins

Origin of barbasco¹

First recorded in 1855–60; from Latin American Spanish, said to be alteration of verbasco “mullein,” from Latin verbascum

Example Sentences

Some fishermen have used dynamite, while others have half-dammed one river to stun fish with a toxic plant known as barbasco.

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They had four or five canoes, and a large quantity of barbasco; a root which has the property of stupefying, or intoxicating, the fish.

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We would not employ the barbasco, that is to say, the roots of Piscidea erithryna and Jacquinia armillaris, which, when thrown into the pool, intoxicate or benumb these animals.

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Out of these, when properly pounded together, Guapo intended to make the celebrated “barbasco,” or fish-poison, which is used by all the Indians of South America in capturing fish.

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We would not employ the barbasco, that is to say, the roots of the Piscidea erithyrna, the Jacquinia armillaris, and some species of phyllanthus, which thrown into the pool, intoxicate or benumb the eels.

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