A genus of tropical plants including the rattlepod, known for seed pods that rattle when dry and are used to make musical instruments and dyes.
From Greek 'krotālon' (rattle) combined with the Latin genus suffix '-aria,' literally 'rattle-plant' because the dry seed pods make rattling sounds.
Crotalaria beans were traditionally used in Africa and India to make percussion instruments that still sound like maracas, and the plants also fix nitrogen in soil, so farmers planted them both for music-making and crop rotation.
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