What is "mucuna pruriens"

Donkey \Don"key\ (d[o^][ng]"k[y^]), n.; pl. Donkeys (d[o^][ng]"k[i^]z). [Prob. dun, in allusion to the color of the animal + a dim. termination.]

1. An ass; or (less frequently) a mule.

2. A stupid or obstinate fellow; an ass.

   Donkey engine, a small auxiliary engine not used for propelling, but for pumping water into the boilers, raising heavy weights, and like purposes.

   Donkey pump, a steam pump for feeding boilers, extinguishing fire, etc.; -- usually an auxiliary.

   Donkey's eye (Bot.), the large round seed of the Mucuna pruriens, a tropical leguminous plant.

Mucuna pruriens is a tropical legume native to Africa and tropical Asia and widely naturalized and cultivated. Its English common names include velvet bean, Bengal velvet bean, Florida velvet bean, Mauritius velvet bean, Yokohama velvet bean, cowage, cowitch, lacuna bean, and Lyon bean. The plant is notorious for the extreme itchiness it produces on contact, particularly with the young foliage and the seed pods. It has value in agricultural and horticultural use and has a range of medicinal properties.