Ricinus comunis aka castor bean plant… It’s an introduced species to the US. It grows in about 20 states. https://plants.usda.gov/core/profile?symbol=RICO3
I found it growing wild on a powerline a few weeks ago. I’d never seen it before, took me a couple of hours to figure it out.
A friend sent me some links. It seems it’s a good plant for honey bees and a bad plant for moles and other burrowing mammals. Ever hear of Castor Oil? Yep, it’s the source… It was used to lubricate internal combustion engines in the early 1900’s… a very useful plant.
https://www.beeculture.com/the-useful-and-versatile-castor-bean-plant/
I intended to wait until later to harvest seed but after the heavy frost last night I got a few seed pods today just in case. I want to grow it here on the farm next year. Maybe these seeds will be okay.
The first 4 photos are before the frost. The last 4 I took today after the frost.
This is a highly poisonous plant, care must always be with such plants. My advice, if you don’t know how to handle extremely toxic plants… avoid them. In my opinion this warning is never strong enough in foraging and plant books. Within 10 miles of my home there are at least 8 plants that will kill people quicker than the castor bean. Half of those never get mentioned in print. So please be careful out in nature.
I found it growing wild on a powerline a few weeks ago. I’d never seen it before, took me a couple of hours to figure it out.
A friend sent me some links. It seems it’s a good plant for honey bees and a bad plant for moles and other burrowing mammals. Ever hear of Castor Oil? Yep, it’s the source… It was used to lubricate internal combustion engines in the early 1900’s… a very useful plant.
https://www.beeculture.com/the-useful-and-versatile-castor-bean-plant/
I intended to wait until later to harvest seed but after the heavy frost last night I got a few seed pods today just in case. I want to grow it here on the farm next year. Maybe these seeds will be okay.
The first 4 photos are before the frost. The last 4 I took today after the frost.
This is a highly poisonous plant, care must always be with such plants. My advice, if you don’t know how to handle extremely toxic plants… avoid them. In my opinion this warning is never strong enough in foraging and plant books. Within 10 miles of my home there are at least 8 plants that will kill people quicker than the castor bean. Half of those never get mentioned in print. So please be careful out in nature.