[stumpyacres]

My friend said they are highly poisonous - they were in our box of seeds ???

 

[CraftyDiva]

Wish someone would have told my grandmother that when she was pouring spoonfulls of it down our throats years ago. :haha:

It does make a wonderful addition to gardens, very tropical.

Everything you would want to know about Castor Seeds............

http://waynesword.palomar.edu/plmar99.htm

 

[SueD]

Raw castor beans ARE highly poisonous.


Refined oil from them is not poisonous - in small amounts. However... take into account that castor oil is used as a laxative - especially powerful laxative - ask your doctor what choices you have for a G. I. test. Mothers were instructed to give their kids castor oil as a means of both preventing colic and to keep them 'regular'. Of course, back in those days, they also gave you brandy to stop teething pain...

Another clue - remember the old saying about 'flying by the seat of their pants'??? This was coined during the second half of WWI - when the engine props on the planes were lubricated with castor oil. The pilots had open cockpits, and had no choice but to inhale the stuff...... you can guess how this is related...

All parts of the castor plant are HIGHLY poisonous raw. To animals as well as to humans.

Sue

 

[Oregonsparkie]

Castor beans are very poisionous. Me and my sisters and cousins ate a bunch when we were very little. Had to have our stomach pumped. If my lil sister didnt go and ask mom a question while we be eating them I wouldnt be here now. I can still remember the hospital and have my stomached pumped - that was over 40 years ago.

 

[uncle Will in In.]

We used them to get rid of moles when I was a kid, and the common name we were familiar with was Mole Beans. I'd put a bean down in mole runs where they were supposed to eat them and croak. I don't know if they ever hurt a mole, but many of them grew from where I"d put them. They make a beautiful big plant that resembles burly tobacco plants. They get over head high and have seed heads in clusters. I never knew they were poison, but I never was inclined to eat one either.

 

[james dilley]

just remember the ricin scare last yr. it is made from caster beans ,just a heads up if someone wants the seed from your planys in large quanities . also it is a nusiance plant after a while if left unchecked..

 

[Fla Gal]

For some reason I'm under the impression that Castor plant and Jimpson weed are one and the same. I've tried to do google searches and apparently didn't use the correct key words. Does anyone know if they are the same plant?

 

[Don Armstrong]

Incredibly poisonous, the assassins poison of choice. Bulgarian assassins in London got a defector there with a device mounted in an umbrella that injected a couple of ball-point-pen balls coated with ricin.

The bean is shiny, attractive, the shape of a jellybean, and just a bit smaller. They scatter from the seed case and sit on the ground. One is enough to kill a child, two or three can handle an adult. Even if you live through it your health can be ruined for life.

I won't grow them, and I'll kill any I can.

 

[suelandress]

Of course, back in those days, they also gave you brandy to stop teething pain...

You make that sound like a bad thing! :haha: :haha:

 

[uncle Will in In.]

They are not the same as jimpson weeds.

 

[Fla Gal]

They are not the same as jimpson weeds.

Thanks Unk,

I appreciate the information. I guess it's off the the county extension office to find out which one it is that grows wild in this area.

 

[Guest]

The seed of the castor bean when lying on the ground looks likle a big fat tick. The bushes make wonderful shade for the chickens, but I quit growing them because of all the little ones around here.

Now; "Flying by the seat of one's pants" does not refer to the castor bean or the oil once used in engines. It refers to flying by the feel of gravity when vision is obscured by clouds or rain.

More than one pilot has flown his plane into the ground when he became disoriented and could not keep his plane in level flight. "Seat of the Pants" flying is dangerous.
Ox