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Deadly☠️ To avoid

🌱 Castor Oil Plant

Ricinus communis · Euphorbiaceae

🫒 Mediterranean🌴 Tropical🌍 Africa
🧠 To remember it"Mottled little bean, never to be chewed"—castor seeds look like candy, but they kill like a military poison.
Castor Oil Plant — Ricinus communis

🔍 Identify it without mistakes

Large ornamental plant with spectacular palmate foliage, often reddish, widely cultivated in Mediterranean and tropical gardens, and sometimes naturalized. Its spotted seeds, resembling small shiny beans, contain ricin—one of the most potent plant toxins known. Just a few chewed seeds can kill an adult.

  1. large palmate leaves with 5-11 toothed lobes, often reddish-purple depending on the variety
  2. capsule fruits covered in soft spines, clustered in bunches
  3. oval, smooth, and shiny seeds, mottled brown and beige like a small bean or a gorged tick
  4. hollow stem, often reddish-tinged, highly branched growth habit
Size1 à 4 m depending on climate
Floweringsummer, fruiting until autumn
Habitatornamental gardens, wasteland in mild climates, widely cultivated for castor oil

⚠️ Not to be confused with

No common edible look-alike (—)—

To tell them apart: the main risk is children being attracted to the colorful seeds, mistaking them for candy or marbles; no spotted bean-shaped seed found under this plant should ever be put in your mouth

☠️ What kills

nomRicin (a protein toxin that inhibits cellular protein synthesis), concentrated in the seed
dose letale estimeeabout 4 to 8 chewed and swallowed seeds can be fatal for an adult; by injection, a few micrograms per kilo are enough (a whole seed swallowed without chewing is less dangerous because the seed coat resists digestion) (Toxinz, approx)
delaia few hours to 36 h
symptomessevere abdominal pain, vomiting, bloody diarrhea, severe dehydration, followed by liver, kidney, and circulatory failure in severe cases
antidoteno specific antidote; intensive symptomatic treatment (rehydration, support of vital functions)
morts documenteesyes, historically and in toxicological literature—ricin has also been used as a weapon (the "Bulgarian umbrella" case, assassination of Georgi Markov in London in 1978)

First steps : Call poison control immediately if seeds are ingested, even if you don't have immediate symptoms (onset delay can be long). Do not induce vomiting. Count and keep the seeds or pod fragments for emergency services.

Sources (3)

No entry replaces a certain identification in the field, or medical advice. When in doubt: don't eat it. If ingestion is suspected: poison control or 112/911.