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| DISCLAIMER: These pages are presented solely as a source of INFORMATION and ENTERTAINMENT and to provide stern warnings against use where appropriate. No claims are made for the efficacy of any herb nor for any historical herbal treatment. In no way can the information provided here take the place of the standard, legal, medical practice of any country. Additionally, some of these plants are extremely toxic and should be used only by licensed professionals who have the means to process them properly into appropriate pharmaceuticals. One final note: many plants were used for a wide range of illnesses in the past, but be aware that many of the historical uses have proven to be ineffective for the problems to which they were applied. |
CASTOR BEAN
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 ALL PARTS OF THIS PLANT ARE POISON! |
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• ONLY THE COMMERCIALLY EXTRACTED OIL IS SAFE! • Ricin is a slow acting poison, the first symptoms appearing about 10 hours after ingestion and beginning with vomiting, followed by diarrhea, blurred vision, cold sweat, burning sensation in the mouth, thirst, skin turning blue, disruption of normal heart rhythm, convulsion and death from respiratory failure and cardiac arrest! • AS LITTLE AS ONE SEED CAN BE FATAL TO A CHILD, TWO FOR AN ADULT! • An OVERDOSE OF THE OIL can irritate the stomach, cause nausea, vomiting, cramps and severe diarrhea - medical attention required if symptoms occur. • Handling of the foliage and seeds can cause skin irritations and allergic reactions. • In parts of Australia and other countries, Castor Bean is SUBJECT TO REGULATIONS as a noxious weed. |
An herbaceous annual, the Castor plant is native to tropical Africa and the East Indies, but naturalized throughout the topics and considered a noxious weed in southern Florida. It grows 8 to 10 feet tall with male and female flowers (neither having petals) growing on the same plant in clusters on terminal spikes and appear in late summer. The female flowers have a 3 to 5 part calyx with greenish to red stigmas. The male flowers have a 4 to 5 part calyx, red or green, and several yellow stamens. The leaves are alternate, palmate with 5 to 9 toothed pointed lobes and long leaf stalks, being purplish when young and gray-green or dark purplish-red when mature and grwoing from 4 inches to 2½ feet across. The fruit appears on a long stalk and is a spiny, 3-lobed, 1/2 to 1 inch long, roundish capsule containing 3 seeds. Seeds are smooth, glossy black or mottled with gray or brown.
The Castor plant has been in cultivation for over 6,000 years. Seeds 4,000 years old have been found in Egyptian tombs. Long used as a liniment and lubricant, the oil became popular as a laxative during the 18th century. Under cultivation, a typical harvest runs between 500 and 2500 lbs. of beans per acre.
Ricin became well known when it was used to assassinate a London poitician by coating the tip of an umbrella and stabbing the man in the leg with it.
NOTE: If Castor oil gets on fabric, it is said to be best washed out with pure Castile soap.
MEDICINAL:
Oil is demulcent, laxative, cathartic, purgative, emollient; affects liver and spleen.The oil has been used internally for constipation and acute diarrhea due to food poisoning.The oil has been used as an enema (with soap suds and water) for severe constipation and externally for skin and eye irritations, cysts, growths, warts (massaged into wart several times a day; oil sometimes steeped with willow bark or garlic for a few days since both are considered wart-removers on their own).The oil has been used when lactating to draw milk down; after feeding a few drops have been rubbed on each breast, avoiding the nipple area; to REDUCE milk flow, a few drops rubbed into the upper back morning and night has been said to be effective. In the Canary Islands, the women have used the leaves applied to the breast to increase lactation. Also: a poultice of the leaves have been used on inflamed breasts due to lactation as well as boils and swellings; a boiled leaf poultice has been applied to the abdomen for flatulence or to promote menses.The oil has been used in conjunction with other remedies to expel tape worm and round worm.Castor oil packs to the abdomen have been used to treat diarrhea in infants and children.The oil has been applied externally for ringworm.The seeds minus the embryo have been boiled in milk and water to use as a liniment for lumbago, rheumatism, sciatica.Has been used in AYURVEDIC medicine for epilepsy, paralysis, insanity, nervous system disorders.In CHINESE medicine the seeds are considered to be antitussive, discutient, expectorant and have been used to treat abscesses, skin eruptions, deafness, headache (seeds rubbed on temples), bleeding, constipation, boils, piles, to induce labor; the powdered seeds, have been used for dogbite, scrofula, skin problems; the crushed seeds made into a pulp have been rubbed into the palms of the hands for palsy, placed in the urethra for stricture, rubbed on the soles of the feet of women in labor to speed the birth process or expel the placenta, stuffed into ears for loss of hearing, rubbed on the top of the head for uterine prolapse. The leaves and roots in decoction (considered purgative, lactagogue, emmenagogue) have been used for anal prolapse, arthritis, constipation, facial palsy, uterine prolapse, disorders of the lymph glands, ocular muscle defects; the heated leaves have been used as a poultice for gout, bruises, injuries, stiffness. The oil has been used externally for skin problems and used for hearing loss, dropsy, headache, hemorrhage, joint pain, dry stool, indigestion, facial paralysis, boils, ulcers, and labor. The JUICE of the leaves is considered a strong emetic and has been used in cases of narcotic poisoning. The root bark has been used as a strong purgative.Continuous and frequent Castor Oil packs have been used over the liver for an inflamed liver. Also, Castor oil rubbed over the liver, covered by a warm towel which has been soaked in Ginger tea and wrung out, to help draw toxins into and through the liver.
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