Anagyris Foetida

''Anagyris foetida'' (English common name stinking bean trefoil), is a species of flowering plant in the family Fabaceae, forming a malodorous, Summer-deciduous Phytognosis http://regenerag.org/blog/2018/4/12/anagyris-foetida-an-underutilized-mediterranean-nitrogen-fixing-shrub Retrieved at 12.31 on Friday 30/12/22. Francisco J Valtueña, Ana Ortega-Olivencia, Tomás Rodríguez-Riaño and Josefa López "Reproductive biology in Anagyris foetida L. (Leguminosae), an autumn–winter flowering and ornithophilous Mediterranean shrub"
''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'', Volume 157, Issue 3, July 2008, Pages 519–532, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8339.2008.00801.x shrub or small tree 2-4m in height with green twigs bearing grey-green trifoliate leaves clad beneath in silvery hairs. The red-tinged, yellow, Laburnum-like flowers are borne on the previous season’s growth and are pollinated mainly by birds''Encyclopedie Biologique'' - XXV (25) P. Fournier ( Professor Canon Paul-Victor Fournier )
''Le Livre des Plantes Medicinales et Veneneuses de France''
pub. Editions Lechevalier - Paris 1947 ed. Paul Lechevalier, Tome I, pps. 81-2. and bees - notably the buff-tailed bumblebee.The large spot of red pigmentation on the flowers is located on the exterior of the standard, the interior of which bears, in turn, many small, deep red spots.

Scientific Name

The genus name ''Anagyris'' is a compound of the Ancient Greek prefix ανα (''ana-'') "up / back again / backwards" and γῦρος (''gŷros''), "ring" / "round", giving the meaning "bent back into a ring" - in reference to the curved pods of the plant, while the Latin specific name ''foetida'' is the feminine form of the adjective ''foetidus'', meaning "stinking" or "smelly" - in reference to the foul stench of the bruised leaves, which is said to resemble that of spoiled beans.Quattrocchi, Umberto (2012). ''CRC World dictionary of medicinal and poisonous plants: common names, scientific names, eponyms, synonyms and etymology''. Volume I, A-C, pub. CRC Press Taylor and Francis Group. page 270, heading ''Anagyris L. Fabaceae (Thermopsideae)''.

Common names

The shrub has a wide variety of vernacular names in the languages spoken around the Mediterranean, most of them alluding to its foul smell and poisonous properties. Into the former category fall the French ''bois puant'' and the Italian ''legno puzzo'' - both meaning "stinkwood" - and the Spanish '' hediondo'' meaning simply "stinker". Into the latter category (poison-related names) fall two overlapping sub-categories: the first comprising names referencing the similarity in appearance of Anagyris to the Carob tree, with its similarly large and pendent pods, and contrasting it unfavourably with that edible species, and the second, pejorative names containing the names of animals perceived as being in some way noxious. A purely carob-related name is the Italian ''carrubazzo'' meaning "bad carob", the suffix ''-azzo'' providing the pejorative sense, as in ''ragazzo'' now "boy", but with the original sense of "lout", "street urchin" or "slave".
Carob-and-animal names include the Arabic ''kharroub kelb'' / ''karrûb el klâb'' "carob of the dog", ''kharroub el-khinzir'' "carob of the pig" and ''kharroub el-maiz'' "carob of the goat". Animal-and-bean names include the French ''fève de loup'' "bean of the wolf" and the Maltese ''fula tal-klieb'' and Arabic ''fûl el klâb'', both meaning "bean of the dog".
Of dog-related plant names it may be noted that in Europe these generally convey a perceived inferiority of some sort when compared to plants fit for humans e.g. a dog rose is scentless and dog’s mercury (as opposed to the true mercury plant) is poisonous.Mabey, Richard, ''Flora Britannica'', Sinclair-Stevenson, London, 1996, pp256–257. Likewise in the Arab world the dog is deemed a dirty animal which feeds on carrion and other unclean things and is itself unfit for human consumption - whence the Arabic language insults ''kelb'' and ''ibn al kalb'' ("dog" and "son of a dog", respectively). Regarding the Arab conception of the "carob of the pig", it may further be noted that the pig is the only animal the meat of which is explicitly condemned as haram in the Quran ( Quran 2:173) (see also Islamic dietary laws).

Distribution

The plant has a circum-Mediterranean distribution in Europe and North Africa, with extensions into Turkey, Iran and the Arabian peninsula.

Habitat

A. foetida is a tropical or subtropical relict species from the Tertiary period ( a status suggested (i.a.) by its unusually large and heavy seeds),Francisco J Valtueña, Ana Ortega-Olivencia and Rodríguez-Riaño Tomás "Germination and seed bank biology in some Iberian populations of Anagyris foetida L. (Leguminosae)" April 2008 ''Plant Systematics and Evolution'' 275(3):231-243 DOI:10.1007/s00606-008-0067-2 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rodriguez-Riano-Tomas/publication/225357180_Germination_and_seed_bank_biology_in_some_Iberian_populations_of_Anagyris_foetida_L_Leguminosae/links/0fcfd50a21249dccc2000000/Germination-and-seed-bank-biology-in-some-Iberian-populations-of-Anagyris-foetida-L-Leguminosae.pdf?origin=publication_detail Retrieved at 10.23 on Friday 16/12/22. which suggests that its original homeland may have lain somewhere in the refugium encompassing the Balkans, Türkiye and the Black Sea coastal region of the Caucasus. The picture is complicated by the fact that it is also an archaeophyte (ancient introduction - original homeland uncertain). In France it is a rare and protected species now found only in coastal départements, although it once grew also in Alpes-Maritimes where it is now extinct. It grows in calcareous soils in seasonally arid areas exposed to the hottest summer sun, favouring rocky limestone escarpments (as currently at Mont Faron), often among the ruins of castles and abbeys (see also monastic garden), suggesting that it may be a relic of cultivation for medicinal purposes or even to furnish an arrow poison for military use.

Adaptations to growth in Winter and early Spring

Summer leaf-fall

Anagyris foetida is an ultra drought-tolerant member of the Fabaceae family. The large shrub originates in the Mediterranean Basin. The plant illustrates one of the best drought-resisting strategies of mediterranean flora: the plant keeps its leaves through autumn, winter and spring, then it goes completely deciduous in summer, becoming dormant and highly resistant to drought.

This pattern of aestivation (summer dormancy) is more characteristic of many Mediterranean bulbs than it is of the majority of Mediterranean shrubs, which have often adopted the different strategy of sclerophylly to cope with high Summer temperatures and drought.

Pollination by birds

Canon Fournier noted as early as 1947 that ''A. foetida'' was primarily bird-pollinated. This was substantiated by Ortega-Olivencia et al. who carried out a study of the pollinators visiting two populations of the plant in Southwest Spain over a three-year period and recorded their findings in a paper of 2005."First Confirmation of a Native Bird-Pollinated Plant in Europe" Ana Ortega-Olivencia, Tomás Rodríguez-Riaño, Francisco J. Valtueña, Josefa López, Juan A. Devesa and Jane Memmott, ''Oikos'' Vol. 110, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 578-590 (13 pages) Abstract viewable at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0030-1299.2005.13877.x Retrieved at 8.52 on Friday 9/12/22. Such bird-pollination (ornithophily) is, so far, unique among the thousands of plant species comprising the flora of Europe. The avian pollinators recorded in the study were three passerine species: the Common chiffchaff, the Eurasian blackcap and the Sardinian warbler. Relevant in this context are the red markings on the flowers of A. foetida, red being a colour particularly noticeable by (and therefore attractive to) birds, with their tetrachromat vision.
The authors offer the following plausible explanation for the unusual form of pollination which has evolved in the case of ''A. foetida'':

The negligible existence of insect visitors and pollinators of ''A. foetida'' flowers could be explained by the early flowering of this species during the autumn–winter, coinciding with the coolest and wettest months of the year (cold, high winds, almost daily mists that persist until nightfall, and above all, abundant rainfall).

A complementary study of a similar kind undertaken by Haran et al. in Israel in 2018 revealed yet further bird species involved in the pollination of ''A. foetida'', along with a single species which steals nectar from the flowers while seldom acting as a pollen vector."Specialist nectarivorous birds (''Cinnyris osea'') steal nectar whereas omnivorous birds are pollen transfer vectors of ''Anagyris foetida''" Ron Haran, Ido Izhaki, Amots Dafni ''Journal of Pollination Ecology'', 23(9), 2018, pp 82-89 https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ido-Izhaki/publication/325527432_Specialist_nectarivorous_birds_Cinnyris_osea_steal_nectar_whereas_omnivorous_birds_are_pollen_transfer_vectors_of_Anagyris_foetida/links/5b122a874585150a0a608d51/Specialist-nectarivorous-birds-Cinnyris-osea-steal-nectar-whereas-omnivorous-birds-are-pollen-transfer-vectors-of-Anagyris-foetida.pdf?origin=publication_detail Retrieved at 19.05 on Friday 9/12/22
In addition to the Common chiffchaff, the Eurasian Blackcap and the Sardinian Warbler the Israeli study documents another six pollinating species: the White-spectacled bulbul, the Spanish Sparrow, the Common whitethroat, the Lesser whitethroat, Rüppell's warbler and the Eastern Orphean warbler. The species found generally to operate as a nectar thief was the Palestine sunbird (in consequence of its longer bill), although even it could act as a pollinator, on occasion.
As in Spain, bird pollination is explicable by the plant’s flowering at a time when weather and temperatures are uncongenial to insect activity: the plant is almost the only shrub in the eastern Mediterranean region that flowers in winter.

Seed dispersal

The fruits of this species mature at the beginning of Summer, and are dispersed by simple fall under gravity. The process of fruit abscission lasts about a month, although really most of the fruits fall in the first two weeks. The fruits are indehiscent and, if they are not eaten by livestock, remain on the ground. After the heat of summer and the arrival of autumnal rains, the papyraceous–coriaceous pericarp (papery, corky pod) begins to rot, passing from brown to blackish in colour, and leaving the seeds exposed. These are large in size, very hard, and of an attractive bluish or violet-bluish colour. At least at present and in the populations studied, A. foetida shows no specialized dispersal mechanism, as is the case in many species of the Iberian Peninsula

- thus Ortega-Olivencia, Valtueña and Rodríguez-Riaño in their data-rich paper of 2008 attempting to account for the relative rarity and decline of ''Anagyris foetida'' in Spain - the study focussing on populations of the plant in Andalusia and Valencia. The authors are cautious in applying conclusions drawn from data gathered solely in Spain, but nonetheless offer pointers for future research in other countries where the plant is native.

Soil seed banks

The authors sought to determine whether the plant could form a soil seed bank, while doubting that this could be possible, given the large size and high surface-to-volume ratio of the somewhat flattened, reniform seeds, which would be likely to hinder their slipping through gaps in the soil and their sinking in soil through the action of earthworms and other soil organisms. Their doubts, however, proved unfounded: since the species could indeed form seed banks through two mechanisms: first the seed could sink during the rainy season, when the soil became waterlogged and colloidal, and secondly there emerged evidence that moles were involved in seed burial when they raised molehills while digging their burrows during the winter months, although this occurred only in areas where the soil had not been overly compacted by the trampling of livestock.

Olive mimicry

While the authors were unable to discover a seed dispersal vector for the plant in Spain, they did discover an intriguing strategy encouraging endozoochory (consumption of seeds followed by defecation at a distance) that suggested that a species of bird might be involved. The large blue-black seeds of ''Anagyris foetida'' bear a strong resemblance (particularly when seen from a distance) to the fruits of ''Olea europaea'' var. ''sylvestris'', the wild olive, which, being fleshy, brightly coloured and lipid-rich, have typical characteristics of fruits encouraging dispersal by birds.

The similarity between these fruits and the seeds of Anagyris could lead to dispersal of the seeds of Anagyris by birds in habitats where Olive and Anagyris coexist and are abundant (they are frequently found in the same habitat), because of the birds confusing them with the fruits of Olea. Nevertheless, the test of this hypothesis did not give a positive result in the population studied…

While the authors failed to observe any birds which are habitual consumers of black olives in Spain consuming Anagyris seeds in error, they do not rule out the role of olive mimicry in seed dispersal in other Mediterranean countries where both Anagyris and Olea are present. (See also Vavilovian mimicry).

Role of sheep

Few seeds can sink to the seed bank in the soil due to the intense pressure of predation by sheep. This is due principally to the shrubby habit of the plants and constant presence of sheep (always present during the period of ripening of the fruits, when predation has the most negative effect).

In Spain, sheep proved to have both negative and positive effects upon seed production and germination. On the negative side, the animals showed a predilection for browsing on unripe pods (at which stage of development the seeds have not yet acquired a hard testa) and thus destroyed, by mastication, a great many seeds before these had had a chance to ripen.
On the positive side, in years of drought, when there was no grass upon which they could graze, sheep would resort to eating fallen pods containing ripe seeds. This suggested to the authors that sheep might be involved in endozoochoric seed dispersal, but examination of their droppings failed to reveal any ripe seeds that had passed through their guts (which would have involved their being exposed to acid scarification in the animals’ stomachs). However, the authors discovered that, in consuming the ripe, fallen pods, the sheep had swallowed the pericarps, but spat out the ripe seeds, having (sometimes) chewed them enough to rupture their leathery testae (seed coats) but not enough to kill the embryos in them - thus improving their rate of germination by up to 48%.

Other possible mammalian and avian vectors

The authors note that horses and cattle play no role in seed dispersal, because they do not browse on the fruits of A. foetida. They speculate that, in habitats modified less by agriculture than those of the Spanish locales in which they carried out their research, other mammals, such as deer, foxes and hares might be involved (indeed, they do not even rule out sheep completely as vectors elsewhere in the plant’s range). Olive mimicry by the seeds might suggest the existence of an avian vector of some kind, but in that instance, scarification would be purely chemical (by stomach acid),not involving mastication, as the seeds would be swallowed whole, without any preliminary chewing. Such chemical scarification by a bird would be less effective than mechanical scarification by the teeth of a mammal in rupturing the seed coat to facilitate imbibition.

Unknown seed dispersal vector

In Spain, the dispersers of A. foetida fruit remain unknown, although this does not mean that the species does not possess them in other populations in its area of distribution. ''If it still exists'' talics added this disperser is likely to be a mammal since the latency of the seeds of this species, which are hard and impermeable, is broken physically through biting and by the action of stomach acid.

As the above makes plain, the principal disperser or dispersers of A. foetida may actually be extinct, which conclusion would go some way toward accounting for its relative rarity and would fit with its status as an archaeophyte possibly no longer to be found growing in a truly wild state.

Tough, waterproof seed coats

As suggested by their accumulation in soil seed banks, the seeds of ''A. foetida'' have tough, waterproof testae (seed coats) which enable them to remain viable for a long time. The authors demonstrated this water-resistance clearly by immersing a batch of unscarified seeds (i.e. seeds with undamaged seed coats) in a beaker of water for no fewer than four years - without the least ensuing sign of imbibition (water uptake necessary for the initiation of germination). Scarification of the seeds before their immersion (whether chemically by acids or mechanically by nicking, filing or similar damage from the teeth of sheep) on the other hand, could result in complete imbibition within 48 hours - this being indicated by colour change. The fully-imbibed seeds swelled and lost their purple-black, olive-like tones as the anthocyanin pigments responsible for this colouration leached away into the water, leaving the swollen seeds cream-coloured - and thus no longer potentially attractive to birds fooled by olive mimicry. These anthocyanin pigments not only mimic the dark colours of black olives, but also confer resistance to pathogens, since they posess antibacterial properties providing a measure of protection of the seed coats from breakdown by soil bacteria.

Value as a nitrogen-fixing pioneer and companion plant

A. foetida will tolerate a wide variety of soils and has been grown as a fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing pioneer species in the large-scale restoration of fire-damaged areas in Southern Europe, using native species. It has also been planted at high densities as a nitrogen-fixing companion plant (albeit a very toxic one) among fruit and nut trees.

Medicinal use

The blossom smells strongly of cabbage, and all parts of the plant were used medicinally, particularly in cases surrounding childbirth problems.

The first to write an account of the folk medicinal properties of ''A. foetida'' Guérin, Paul Émile Alexis, ''Recherches sur la localisation de l'anagyrine & de la cytisine'' (thèse), École supérieure de pharmacie de Paris, 1895 (translation: Research upon the sources of the alkaloids anagyrine and cytisine : thesis submitted to the Higher School of Pharmacy, Paris 1885) https://archive.org/details/BIUSante_pharma_p5293x1895x01/page/n9/mode/2up Retrieved at 12.39 on 29/11/22. was Ancient Greek herbalist and physician Pedanius Dioscorides in his monumental work ''De materia medica''. He lists the names ''onaguris'', ''anaguris'', ''anagyros'', ''acopon'', and ''agnacopum'' for the shrub and records distinct uses for the leaves, root and seeds. Concerning the leaves, he recommends a poultice of the young foliage to treat oedema and an infusion of a small quantity of the leaves in raisin wine to treat asthma, headache and delayed menstruation. He further records two uses of the leaves suggesting uterine stimulant properties: an aid to placental expulsion and an abortifacient.
Of the root, he writes that it "dissolves and ripens" (presumably in reference to tumours and boils, although this is not specifically stated). His statement "It is hung as an amulet on those who have hard labour, yet one must at once (after the woman’s delivery) take off the amulet and put it away" presumably also refers to the root, although it is possible that other plant parts are also intended (contact between plant parts and bare skin could conceivably lead to some degree of absorption of active constituents). Concerning the seeds, he says only that their consumption causes excessive vomiting.

Eminent French botanist Professor Canon Paul-Victor Fournier (1877-1964) devotes two pages of his three-volume work on the medicinal and poisonous plants of France (published in 1947) to the uses and toxicity of the plant.

The seeds of the plant were formerly employed as an emetic (which Renaissance doctor and botanist Matthiolus observed was so violent in its action that it could cause internal bleeding), while an infusion of the leaves was used as a purgative, but neither use should be considered safe, given the extreme toxicity of the species.

Toxicity

The alkaloid anagyrine, present in the seeds, causes, in warm-blooded animals, first slowing of the breathing and heartbeat and ultimately cessation of respiration and cardiac arrest.

Cause of birth defects

As the specific name foetida (as do various common names in European languages) indicates, the foliage emits an unpleasant smell when brushed against or handled. The plant is very poisonous, containing a variety of quinolizidine alkaloids, including the teratogenic anagyrine (named for the genus Anagyris and occurring also in certain toxic species belonging to the genus LupinusCouch, James Fitton. "Lupine Studies. XIV.1 The Isolation of Anagyrine From ''Lupinus laxiflorus var.silvicola'' C. P. Smith." ''Journal of the American Chemical Society'' 61.12 (1939): 3327-328. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/ja01267a027 Retrieved at 12.18 on 28/11/22.
). The highest concentration of the toxins occurs in the small, greenish-purple, bean-like seeds.

Danger to children

The shrub should not be grown in areas where children play because they may be tempted by the bean-like appearance of the seed pods to nibble the attractive seeds, with potentially fatal consequences (- the most dangerous poisonous plants are those combining high toxicity with fruits resembling those of edible species).

Hazardous tainting of milk products

As canon Fournier points out, stock generally avoid browsing upon the plant because of its unpleasant smell and taste, this being fortunate for humans, for, on the rare occasions when ewes have been forced, by hunger and the unavailability of other fodder, to consume the plant in quantity, their milk has become not merely tainted, but poisonous. Persons who have eaten cheese prepared from such milk have suffered violent vomiting, and, on occasion, (unspecified) symptoms of an even more severe nature.

Case of accidental poisoning in Algeria

Trotter mentions, in passing (and without further elaboration), a case of accidental poisoning by the plant recorded in a work of Vesque’s: a group of hungry soldiers, foraging for edible wild plants while stationed in Algeria, mistook the seeds of ''A. foetida'' for beans, with grave consequences.

Cultural references: Anagyris and Anagyrous

That the plant was deemed proverbially smelly in Ancient Greece is demonstrated by a punning exchange near the beginning of the celebrated comedy of circa 411BCE Lysistrata, by the playwright Aristophanes:

everal_women_enter,_headed_by_MYRRHINA,_from_the_deme_(=suburb)_of_Anagyrous.html" ;"title="suburb.html" ;"title="everal women enter, headed by MYRRHINA, from the deme (=suburb">everal women enter, headed by MYRRHINA, from the deme (=suburb) of Anagyrous">suburb.html" ;"title="everal women enter, headed by MYRRHINA, from the deme (=suburb">everal women enter, headed by MYRRHINA, from the deme (=suburb) of Anagyrous. Others soon follow.]

CALONICE: Hi ! but they're coming now : here they all are : First one,and then another - hoity-toity!
Where are this lot from?

LYSISTRATA: From Anagyrous.

CALONICE: Aha! Well, at any rate we’ve "stirred up Anagyrous" omophonic pun upon the plant name "Anagyris" *

* Note: κινεῖν τὸν ἀνάγυρον (kinein tòn anáguron) "To stir up hakethe Anagyris" (meaning the nauseous-smelling shrub ''Anagyris foetida'') was a proverb, used of persons who brought some unpleasantness on themselves ompare "Let sleeping dogs lie" Calonice applies the proverb to the imilarly nameddeme suburb meaning that the influx of Anagyrasian women proved that the deme uburb of ancient AthensAnagyrous was thoroughly stirred up .e. in uproar/out on the street

Further layers of meaning can be guessed at in the pun: some commentators have inferred that the Athenian suburb of Anagyrus may have been so named because the rank-smelling Anagyris grew plentifully there: others that a playful (possibly traditional) jibe at the inhabitants of Anagyrus may have been intended - to the effect that the Anagyrasians were notably smelly, because their personal hygiene was poor. ristophanes_may_here_be_referencing_an_in-joke_that_his_Athenian_audience_would_have_appreciated.html" ;"title="in-joke.html" ;"title="ristophanes may here be referencing an ristophanes_may_here_be_referencing_an_in-joke_that_his_Athenian_audience_would_have_appreciated">in-joke.html"_;"title="ristophanes_may_here_be_referencing_an_in-joke">ristophanes_may_here_be_referencing_an_in-joke_that_his_Athenian_audience_would_have_appreciated

There_are_two_theories_concerning_the_etymology_of_the_suburb_name_Anagyrous_punned_upon_in_Lysistrata_(as_quoted_above):_first_that_it_was_named_for_an_Eponym.html" "title="in-joke">ristophanes may here be referencing an in-joke that his Athenian audience would have appreciated">in-joke.html" ;"title="ristophanes may here be referencing an in-joke">ristophanes may here be referencing an in-joke that his Athenian audience would have appreciated

There are two theories concerning the etymology of the suburb name Anagyrous punned upon in Lysistrata (as quoted above): first that it was named for an Eponym">eponymous hero Anagyrous, famed for exacting a terrible revenge upon those who had cut branches from the sacred grove dedicated to him, and secondly that it was actually named for the foul-smelling shrub Anagyris that grew there in such profusion. More light might have been cast on the matter by a lost play by Aristophanes entitled Anagyrous and devoted to the deeds of the vengeful hero. However a measure of confusion over the title of a second play possibly devoted to the same hero makes plain the availability to Aristophanes of a second pun at the expense of the Anagyrasians: the playwright Diphilus also wrote a play entitled Anagyrous, but it remains uncertain whether the title was actually Anargyrous - the insertion of a second 'r' changing the meaning to 'without silver' (prefix αν 'without' + ἁργυρυσ 'silver') i.e. 'penniless' or 'impoverished'. Such wordplay could lend itself both to a comic characterisation of the hero Anagyrous as a ne'er-do-well and/or of the inhabitants of the suburb named for him as paupers.Loeb Classics https://www.loebclassics.com/view/aristophanes-attributed_fragments/2008/pb_LCL502.129.xml Retrieved at 23.51 on Thursday 15/12/22.

Gallery

''Anagyris foetida''

File:PikiWiki Israel 83195 mediterranean stinkbush.jpg, Closeup of flower cluster, showing red markings on standard attractive to avian pollinators
File:Anagyris foetida063.JPG, Closeup of flowers showing stamens and a young, protruding pod
File:Anagyris foetidus (15427825069).jpg, Containerised sapling, showing young foliage
File:Anagyris.jpg, Mature shrubby specimen festooned with ripening pods
File:Fesols moros (Anagyris foetida) de la poblacion de Canèssa Lorcha-l`Orxa Vall de Perputxent.jpg, Low-growing, wild specimen, showing spreading canopy of grey-green foliage
File:Anagyris foetida.jpg, Canopy viewed from beneath, showing bark, foliage and ripening pods
4150-Anagyris foetida-Gargano-5.06.JPG, Unripe, paired pods, hanging among proverbially unpleasant-smelling foliage.
File:Anagyris foetida pods and seeds.JPG, Ripe pods juxtaposed with ripe, bean-like seeds
File:Semillas de fesols moros (Anagyris foetida) Canèssia i Castell de Perputxent Lorcha.jpg, Twigs, showing ash-grey bark and single pod split open to reveal toxic, bean-like seeds
File:Anagyris-foetida seeds.jpg, Highly toxic and emetic bean-like seeds, rich in the teratogenic alkaloid anagyrine (note superficial similarity to olive fruit)
File:Anagyris foetida Taub104a.png, Engraving showing anatomical detail from the ''Natürliche Pflanzenfamilien'' of Paul Hermann Wilhelm Taubert (1891)

Avian pollinators

Generalist species whose short beaks increase the likelihood of transporting ''A. foetida'' pollen on their foreheads and throats
File:Common Chiffchaff.jpg, Common chiffchaff ''Phylloscopus collybita''
File:Blackcap (Sylvia atricapilla) male.jpg, Eurasian blackcap ''Sylvia atricapilla''
File:Sardinian Warbler.jpg, Sardinian warbler ''Curruca melanocephala''
File:White-spectacled bulbul.jpg, White-spectacled bulbul
''Pycnonotus xanthopygos''
File:Passer Hispaniolensis Male.JPG, Spanish sparrow ''Passer hispaniolensis''
File:Common Whitethroat.jpg, Common whitethroat
''Curruca communis''
File:Sylvia curruca 1 (Martin Mecnarowski).jpg, Lesser whitethroat ''Curruca curruca''
File:Ruppell's warbler.jpg, Rüppell's warbler ''Curruca ruppeli''
File:Eastern Orphean Warbler - Uzbekistan S4E8419 (18675147404)-cropped.jpg, Eastern orphean warbler
''Curruca crassirostris''

Avian nectar thief

File:Nectarinia osea2.jpg, Palestine sunbird ''Cinnyris osea'' showing beak specially adapted for feeding on nectar
File:Palestine sunbird (Cinnyris osea osea) male.jpg, Palestine sunbird feeding

Insect pollinators

File:Bombus terrestris.jpg, Buff-tailed bumblebee
''Bombus terrestris''
File:Apis mellifera Western honey bee.jpg, Western honey bee ''Apis mellifera''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q2630262

foetida
Flora of France
Flora of Spain
Flora of Greece
Flora of Malta
Poisonous plants
Medicinal plants