Castor oil plant poisonous?

I have what i think is a large (4m) castor oil plant and it looks great as it looks exotic and tropical. I have just read these are very poisonous? I have three young kids so wondering what I should with this? Is it best to remove it?

 

Just a few seeds will kill you, contains Ricin, one of the most toxic nerve agents.

 

I'd be very surprised if, in the UK, you had a castor oil plant that was 4M tall ... although they do grow tall that would take very good growing conditions.

Castor Oil plant, Ricinus, is not frost hardy, so if you have one it would have to be something you planted this spring. If you've had it for years (and you live in England where you get proper cold winters ) then it isn't Ricinus - more probably Fatsia Japonica, also called "False Castor Oil Plant", which will indeed grow to 4M - and the leaves look similar.

I think folk can worry too much about poisonous plants in the garden. A huge number of plants are poisonous (maybe more-are than more-are-not?)

Castor Oil Plant, Ricinus, seeds are indeed very poisonous. The rest of the plant also, but less so. You have to pick and eat the seeds. They mature very late in the season and, except in the Southerly UK, there will be many years, like this one, where the frost kills the plant before it sets seed properly.

If you have children etc. then make sure that the plant does not set seeds - e.g. cut it down before they mature. Other than that enjoy its magnificent huge leaves and the astonishing speed that Ricnus grows at

 

Thanks for your advice.

Kristen, I think you might be right about it being a false castor oil plant becasue I have seen flowers and black berries but not really seeds so far.Its been there for a good few years and seems to have survived the cold winters. I take it this is not poisonous?

 

Sounds exactly like Fatsia then. Ricinus has great big seeds that look like Runner Beans. Fatsia has black berries, just as you describe.

No its not poisonous, but if you are bothered about it for some reason then you either need to stop worrying about it (and make sure children wash hands when coming in from garden, are taught not to eat things in the garden because some are poisonous, etc. etc.) or take very stringent measures to exclude all poisonous plants (e.g. if there are disabled children who are not able to reliably be taught such things, etc.)

The reality is that poisonous plants don't kill people, even children. Most seriously poisonous plants require you to eat more than you would be comfortable eating to actually do you harm, and taste so exceptionally bitter or noxious that no one would ever actually eat enough to be poisoned. It is almost unheard of for a child to die from eating a poisonous plant. Some get upset stomachs, and in some the cause death is uncertain and plants could have been the cause, but even then it probably was not.

Much better children learn about plants, rather than them being excluded from the garden. Children go to other people's gardens / parks / whatever where that protection does not exist.

But I'm making a very broad guess as to your reasons, so there may well be other relevant circumstances. But the bottom line is even eating poisonous plants will, in most cases, give you a stomach upset at worst, assuming you carry on eating something that tastes foul.

Apple pips contain cyanide ... you do need to eat a wheel-barrow full (or something extreme like that) to kill yourself though ... where does one draw the line?

 

P.S. I suppose Garden Centres are partly to blame in this case. Fatsia's common name is "False Castor Oil Plant" - 'coz it looks like the castor oil plant "Ricinus".

However, garden centres' marketing departments aren't going to put "False" on the label ... so Fatsia get sold labelled as "Castor Oil Plant". They look similar ... people get confused.

Worse, people grow the actual Ricinus and maybe think its the same as Fatsia, and don't realise that its poisonous :(

This sums up my view:

http://www.thepoisongarden.co.uk/atoz/ricinus_communis.htm

"Usually described as absolutely deadly in the tiniest of amounts; 50,000 tonnes a year being produced; usually said to be reasonably easy to extract from the plant; so why has ricin killed hardly anyone since 1978?"

 

Totally agree with Kristen.
But having said that, I'd not want to eat the black berries that form on Fatsia either.

Garden plants should be treated with respect, never eat anything unless you are 100% sure its safe.
Lots are not considered actually poisonous, but they are just not edible.
Ever tried a privet hedge leaf? ugh.

 

And young kids will probably try eating grass too ... I expect that will give them the runs and all!

 

Have a look here

http://gardenerscorner.co.uk/forum/threads/poisonous-plants-a-summary.767/

BTW, its a tea cup of Apple pips that will do ya Kristen

 

That's a relief ... a whole barrow load was going to take ages to collect AND to eat

 

No, don't do it, I know your garden is big, but you'll get it sorted

 

Thanks, good advice guys. I need to be more like my parents and let them learn than be over cautious!

Glad that this beautiful plant can safely stay and will mean I have to plan my tropical garden theme in this corner.

I have a colleague in the office who eats the whole apple everyday including the pips.

 

Tell him if he carries on, the capillaries in his cheeks will burst and his nose will swell up & develop a split down the middle.

 

He's more at risk from the pips germinating inside him than anything else I reckon !!