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Great composition!
The Castor Bean Plant (Ricinus communis).
The seeds or beans are extremely poisonous, just one seed can kill a child and four an adult.
Native to the Ethiopian region of tropical east Africa, the castor bean plant has become naturalized in warm temperate regions throughout the world.
Although poisonous, they are the source of numerous economically important products and are one of earliest commercial products. Castor beans have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs dating back to 4000 B.C., and the oil was used thousands of years ago in wick lamps for lighting. To many people the castor plant is just an overgrown, undesirable weed, and yet it produces one of nature`s finest natural oils.
The active poison in castor seeds is ricin (RYE-sin), a very deadly protein called a lectin. Ricin is found in the meal or cake after the oil has been extracted. Those who occasionally take castor oil may be assured that ricin does not occur in the pure oil. When a gram of ricin is compared with equivalent weights of other toxic substances, it turns out to be one of our deadliest natural poisons.
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. Just one milligram of ricin (one of the main toxic proteins in the plant) can kill an adult so be carefull if planting or photographing it.
Sam [Miami FL USA]
