tonka bean

English

Alternative forms

• tonca bean, tonga bean, tonqua bean, tonquin bean,

Noun

tonka bean (plural tonka beans)

1. A black wrinkled seed of a neotropical legume tree of species Dipteryx odorata, used as a perfume and vanilla substitute due to its high coumarin content.
   • 2022, Ayanna Lloyd Banwo, When We Were Birds, Hamish Hamilton, page 155:

     Like when she and Seema [...] climb the tonka bean tree.