Jan–MarApr–JunJul–SepOct–Dec
Planting
Days to maturity
Seasonal yields
Sow indoors · Direct sow · Transplant outdoors
← Explore Plants
Plant · P-723
Castor Bean
Ricinus communis
Castor Bean is grown almost entirely for the oil pressed from its seed, used for centuries as a laxative and still going into soaps, lubricants, printing inks and hydrogenated waxes. The plant is intensely poisonous - a handful of seeds can kill a child - but the toxin ricin is water-soluble and stays behind in the pressing cake, so the refined oil itself is safe to eat and apply to skin. It self-sows freely from long-lived seed and grows fast into a soft-woody shrub, so a stand renews itself without replanting once established.
Record at a glance
Growing profile
- Sun
- Full Sun
- USDA zone
- USDA 9–11
- Soil
- Sand · Loam · Clay
- Moisture
- Well-Drained · Moderate · Moist
Vertical layer
Shrub- Soil pH
- 4.5–8.3
- Plant type
- Perennial
- Mature height
- 6–10 ft
- Mature spread
- 2–4 ft
- Plant spacing
- 3–12 ft
- Root type
- Tap
- Spread pattern
- Seed
Keep exploring
Similar plants
Discover more plants with shared forest layers or growing conditions.
African Blue Basil
Ocimum kilimandscharicum
African Blue Basil is a sterile hybrid between camphor basil and the purple-leaved Dark Opal basil, propagated from cuttings rather than seed…
Shrub · USDA 10–11
Agarita
Alloberberis trifoliolata
Agarita is a dense, spiny-leaved evergreen shrub of rocky limestone hills, slopes and thickets from south Texas through the Trans-Pecos to…
Shrub · USDA 7–9
Aji Amarillo
Capsicum baccatum
Aji Amarillo is a Peruvian yellow-orange chili grown for large, medium-to-very-hot pods used fresh, dried and ground - the backbone of…
Shrub · USDA 9–11
American Beautyberry
Callicarpa americana
American Beautyberry is an arching deciduous shrub of rich woods, moist thickets and swamp edges across the southeastern and south-central…
Shrub · USDA 6–10
American Hazelnut
Corylus americana
American Hazelnut is a thicket-forming shrub that bears small, thick-shelled nuts good raw or cooked, and it pollinates itself, so a single…
Shrub · USDA 4–9
Annatto
Bixa orellana
Annatto is a small tropical evergreen tree or shrub grown for the red-orange dye pigment bixin coating its seeds - the source of the food…
Shrub · USDA 10–12
The deeper layer
Plan what comes next.
- Primary
- Locked ecological function
- Secondary
- Locked ecological function
- Byproduct
- Locked ecological function
Behind the record
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference
- Locked research reference