Quote:
Originally Posted by Yhtac
*Made a slight adjustment to the thread title. 
The castor bean plant is the most poisonous plant in the world. Consumption of the seeds or leaves can and will result in death of a human, if not treated in time. Can grow up to 15' tall.
I bought a packet of these seeds via mail, simply due to the size of the plant. I have a lot of planting room in my yard and needed some empty space filled. After they started growing like wild, only then did I move forward with additional research and learned exactly how dangerous they were. I had planted these in my front yard right near the sidewalk where kids play, etc. So do I pull them? Nope - went to all the neighbors homes with kids and warned them to make sure their offspring don't play in my yard. I was nice about it, but well... you know.
Got rid of them though. Couldn't risk finding a dead kid or dog near my mailbox.
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Indeed, contains Ricin
Ricin (... known as RCA60) is a potent biotoxin which can be extracted from the castor bean and is considered an important potential bioterrorism weapon. Ricin consists of a lectin component (the B-chain) and a toxin component (the A-chain) linked by a disulfide bond. The A-chain is a ribosome-inactivating enzyme with a molecular weight of 32 kDa that cleaves adenine 4324 of the 28S RNA in the 60S ribosomal subunit. The B-chain is a galactose/N-acetylgalactosamine-binding lectin (34 kDa) which binds to cell surfaces and is detached after endocytosis when the A-chain is released to the cytoplasm. Together, the two chains constitute one of the most potent cytotoxins in nature whereas no toxic effects are known for the isolated single chains. Ricin causes extensive cell death and doses down to 1 mg can be lethal.
Bulgarian author and dissident Georgi Ivanov Markov.
This was the famous case of the man being pricked by an umbrella carrying a pellet of ricin.
The pellet entered his body and he died in agony I believe 72 to 120 hours later