Castor Bean Plant

[Lindamct]

Well! Just got off the phone to from speaking with the owner of my favorite Garden Center. He and all the other local nurseries were unable to get seed this year for Castor Beans. Shipment was stopped at the border. The Canadian Dept. of Agriculture has added Castor Bean to the Noxious Weed List. Go Figure I am so ticked off, to say the least! I was hoping to grow 2 in the center of my new beds on either side of the Arbor we are going to build this year . I guess I should have private messaged some of you who had seed to give away.

[dlb]

How very interesting. I would not have thought they reseeded that well. Of course they may be banning it just because it is poisonous.
Dora

[Eeyore]

Linda, try T&T seed. Looks like they still have some.

http://www.ttseeds.com/PHP/nav2.php?search=CASTOR+BEAN

[Lindamct]

Thanks Lyn. I will try them. Are they fairly quick at shipping do you know?

[Lindamct]

Shucks, I want the Red Leaf Variety, and it looks like they only have the Green Leaf left.

[kso]

Shucks, I want the Red Leaf Variety, and it looks like they only have the Green Leaf left.

I have some seeds left over from a packet I bought (about half a packet), send me your address and I'll get them out to you if you want them

[murphy]

the real reason they have been banned is that they have been used to engineer biological weapons...ricin is one of the most toxic biological substances...here is a quote for you

It has been estimated that gram for gram, ricin is 6,000 times more poisonous than cyanide and 12,000 times more poisonous than rattlesnake venom. A dose of ricin weighing only two millionths of an ounce (roughly equivalent to the weight of a single grain of table salt from a salt shaker) is enough to kill a 160 pound person.

In 1978, a Bulgarian dissident, Georgi Markov, was assassinated in London after being pricked by a ricin-tipped umbrella. Ricin causes a slow and painful death through blood poisoning and a breakdown of the circulatory system. There is no known antidote for ricin poisoning. Even before the tragic terrorist plane crashes into the Trade Center Twin Towers in New York, some airports hand-inspected umbrellas packed in carry-on luggage.

Following the Gulf War, UN investigator teams (UNSCOM) discovered that Iraq was purifying ricin for possible use in biological warfare, along with anthrax (Bacillus anthracis), botulism toxin (Clostridium botulinum), gas gangrene (C. perfringens), and aflatoxin (Aspergillus parasiticus). From: Facts on File News Services (13 Feb. 1998).

I managed by fluke to find a package of seeds this year at a walmart...must have been from old stock. They don't inform people of the real reason these seeds are now banned in North America...but it is due to terrorist threats.....I dunno...but I just think they are pretty plants.

[Durgan]

I suggest here is absolutely no reason for considering the Castor Bean as being invasive in our Northern Climates, frost immediately kills all vegetation, and if some nitwit wants to use it for a weapon, there is no shortage of supply.

India is the world’s leader in castor oil production, but commercial production also occurs in California and the southern United States, Australia, Brazil, Venezuela, Morocco, Taiwan, South Africa, Thailand, Haiti, Belgium, Germany, Holland, Peru, China, Argentina, Mexico, Paraguay, Ecuador, and Ethiopia. Worldwide over 500,000 metric tons of castor oil are produced annually. Castor oil makes up about 50% of the weight of the seeds.

Ricin is incredibly toxic. As little as 0.5 mg (the amount contained in several seeds) can kill an adult. One seed can kill a child. We are not the only sensitive animals. Four seeds will kill a rabbit, 5 a sheep, 6 an ox or horse, 7 a pig, 11 a dog, but it takes 80 to kill a duck. Ricin has been investigated for its potential use as an insecticide. Intact seeds may pass through the digestive tract without releasing ricin.


Finally, we grow many plants, both indoors and outdoors, that are poisonous. In terms of growing Castor Beans as ornamental plants, however, common sense should prevail. If the flower clusters are removed from the plant as they appear, no seeds will be produced, and the risk of accidental poisoning can be minimized.

Panic not.

[murphy]

I don't want to get political on a gardening forum...but since when do politicians make decisions based on common sense. I have been told by many many suppliers last year that they were now banned from selling them...reagardless of the reason.

I go to mexico a couple of times a year and there they are ditch weeds and you see them growing everywhere.

[Eeyore]

I find it odd that T&T seeds is selling them if they have been banned. One American site said they reserve the right not to supply them out of the country but no indication that they were banned.... In fact a google search has turned up no such information....

Linda, I guess I assumed they were red when I ordered them.... Oh well, they'll be pretty anyway.