Commentary, nature, Photography

Castor Bean Plants

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Castor beans are not something anyone should eat as they contain ricin which is highly poisonous.

Castor oil also comes from this plant and can be used medicinally as long as it is not ingested in large quantities.

Although the castor bean plant has to be treated with care, its soft, spiny pods (it’s perfectly safe to handle them) are a beautiful red once they ripen and the leaves also have a lovely shape and an interesting purplish colour. This plant also grows to about 2 metres (approx. 7 feet) so it would make a good privacy hedge.

Although it’s quite beautiful, I wouldn’t want to clean up after it once the pods start falling. It’s a prolific plant and there might be a lot of them!

Happy Tuesday.

24 thoughts on “Castor Bean Plants”

  4. Thanks for this, Lynette. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a castor bean plant. The colour reminds me of those candy-coated peanuts (I think they were peanuts…) we used to buy at the corner/candy store. They looked like little raspberries.

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    1. You’re very welcome. There are many, many castor bean plants around here. I only began to notice them when the pods started turning red.
      I remember those candies as well – first time I’ve thought of them in many years! Yes, I think there were peanuts inside and I used to buy them at the corner store as well. Cheers.

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      1. I remember them as one of my favourites, but mostly I remember them because one of the bullies of our neighbourhood caught me when I was alone on my way back from the store, and made me give them up. He had a little pocket knife and I was scared. If only I could have that time back now (and that little bag of goodies). I would have shared if he’d asked.

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        1. I don’t remember them as a favourite but I do remember how much fun it was to go to the corner store and buy some chocolate or candy. To me it seemed like being confronted by treasure! Yes, I remember being “required” to give up my goodies to a bully also. Once I got a little older I remember fighting back and getting in a couple of good licks. He didn’t bother me again.

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          1. I would love to have had that chance. One thing being bullied taught me though was that when I became a teacher, I would not allow any bullying. If I saw it going on, I treated it like it was a really terrible thing to do (and it is).

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          2. This nasty boy never bothered me at school; he was always after me on my walk home or when he saw me out on weekends. He actually became worse and worse as he got older, but he died in a drowning accident when he was 15. I actually am now of the opinion that he was a budding sociopath. He attacked my cousin when she was 13 and she was left with horrific bruising around her neck – he almost strangled her. There were many other similar incidents that were increasing in severity as he got older.
            Not really what you were getting at but our comment-chat revived my memories of him.

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          3. I know the type, and this incident was also away from school, but your guy!!! Wow. He needed mental help badly. It might be a blessing that he didn’t live to fulfill his life’s dreams at everyone else’s expense. You hate to see a young life taken but in this case, it’s hard not to feel relief.

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          4. I agree, Anneli. As is so often the case, his parents were in total denial, but he was basically a thug. Yes, no one wants to see a young life taken, but when I look back on it, I think it was a blessing in disguise.

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