derris

noun

• 1an insecticide made from the powdered roots of certain tropical plants containing rotenone.

  [ late 19th century: originally used in Malaya to stupefy fish]

• 2a woody, climbing plant of the pea family that bears leathery pods and has tuberous roots from which this insecticide is obtained.

  [modern Latin, from Greek, 'leather covering' (referring to its pod)]

  • Genus Derris, family Leguminosae