Castor Bean, Ricinus communis

**Durgan** · 08-18-2011, 11:18 AM

17 August 2011 Castor Bean, Ricinus communis 17 August 2011 Castor Bean, Ricinus communis

This beautiful plant is grown for its tropical appearance in the home garden. There is a red and green type but I only have the green type this year. The object is to see how large it will become before freeze-up. The beans, seed pods, must be accounted for in a home garden, since ingestion means sure death.The poison is ricin. Grown commercially for oil production castrol, and castor oil in manufacturing various products.Agricultural workers suffer debilitating effects, and the plant probably should be classified up there with asbestos. Grown commercially in India, Brazil, China, and some other countries.
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**annymoll** · 08-18-2011, 01:06 PM

We have both the red and green Castor Beans. Here is a pic of one the grew up in our burnpile at the farm.

**sinopa27** · 08-19-2011, 11:25 AM

I had a patient in the ER that swallowed some castor beans. Didn't die but with deathly sick and we had to do a lot of pumping of his stomach!
I am glad to see this pic posted. Now I know what it looks like. How large do they get?

**Durgan** · 08-19-2011, 04:06 PM

Originally Posted by sinopa27

I had a patient in the ER that swallowed some castor beans. Didn't die but with deathly sick and we had to do a lot of pumping of his stomach!
I am glad to see this pic posted. Now I know what it looks like. How large do they get?

Ten feet tall in one season. They die at the first frost. I always try to get the biggest, but so far have come in second in my area. The green on is slightly larger than the red one.

**annymoll** · 08-19-2011, 05:32 PM

Mine are huge! I threw the dead ones out in the brushpile after the frost- we burned out there several times and then my grandson ran in this spring and said," A bad bean is in the brushpile!" Sure enough, one had come up.He knows the leaves! I love mine, but they are delicate. When we have a storm, the wind bends some and we have to stake them up.