The Castor Bean Plant originated in tropical East Africa near Ethiopia but is now found being grown all around the world in warmer climates and even grows wild in many places even here in the United States.
These types of evergreen shrubs are used to produce castor oil, I'm sure there are a few of you that remember your mother giving this to you either at night when you went to bed or when you didn’t feel good.
I was even given to pregnant women if they went past their due date to help induce labor.
What most don’t know is the Castor plant, also known as ricinus communis also produce ricin which comes form the same bean that produces the castor oil, it can be dangerous and can kill humans if ingested.
These types of evergreen shrubs, castor bean plants really are a pretty and ornamental as you'll see in the pictures below.
Talk about adding texture and an exotic look to your tropical garden, this castor plant will definitely make your garden look spectacular.
They even produce a fuzzy red flower that looks incredible and exotic!
The Castor Bean Impala, 'Ricinus communis', has fast growing, dramatically tropical, dark bronze foliage. Because all parts of this plant are poisonous, do not plant this near very small children and pets. With this in mind, you will love this plant if you need a tall tropical looking screen. Small scarlet flowers appear on foot-high stalks, followed by prickly husks, which contain brown speckled seeds. The Castor Bean blooms in summer when the plants are about 1 foot tall.
The Impala grows best in hot, humid climates and in full sun. They prefer sandy or clay loam soils with good drainage. Water regularly like you would other tall plants. Plant in the spring after the last average frost date. The Caster Bean is an excellent quick hedge. The large copper-red leaves are dramatic and tropical looking.
This Picture Below is Courtesy of www.uky.edu.com Kentucky Garden Flowers
The castor plant is such an unusual tropical plant but how do plants grow from a tropical medicinal plant to an adorned plant that is loved in tropical evergreen gardens? I don’t know but as you can see in the shrub pictures above they are quite an attractive shrub.
The castor oil shrub can actually grow from 3 to 15 feet if left on its own, and does live as an evergreen in areas more like its natural habitat and are frosts free in the winters.
It can also be grown as a tropical house plants with ease.
These plants love direct warm sun and need to be planted in a rich well draining soil.
It loves lots of moisture but can also tolerate the soil drying out a bit.
The foliage that this tropical produces will vary from green, to a blue-gray, and can even be deep purple or brown.
Castor bean seeds are highly poisonous, so keep children away from seedpods developing on plants. (Some gardeners remove and discard the seedpods for this very reason.) Sap from seeds and the plant may cause an allergic reaction, so handle seeds with care, and touch these plants only while wearing long sleeves and gardening gloves.
