The plant has both female and male flowers: bright red feathery female flowers; creamy yellow branched male flowers.
When pollinated, the female flowers develop into bright red spiky seed capsules containing the castor beans.
The raw castor oil seeds contain ricin, which is a highly lethal toxin. However the oil extracted from them is safe as the ricin is water soluble and remains within the discarded seed mash, leaving the fat-based oil safe for commercial use in cosmetics, medicines and heavy industry.
It is advised to wear gloves if handling the plant.
Thanks to your interest in my post of yesterday (and Google + AI) I have discovered the castor oil plant to be a fascinating specimen - but I'll pass on getting one for our garden.....
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