n. The hairs of the pods of a leguminous plant, Mucuna pruriens. The pod is covered with a thick coating of short, stiff, brittle brown hairs, which are retrorsely serrate toward the top. They easily penetrate the skin, and produce an intolerable itching. They are employed medicinally as a mechanical vermifuge.n. The entire pods of M. pruriens.n. The plant itself.n. In the West Indies, a euphorbiaceous shrub, Acidoton urens, bearing capsules covered with stinging hairs. The twining cowhage of the same region is a woody climber of the same order, Tragia volubilis, with hispid capsules.