http://durgan.org/2011/August%202011/17%20August%202011%20Castor%20Bean,%20Ricinus%20communis/HTML/ 17 August 2011 Castor Bean, Ricinus communis
This beautiful plant is grown for its tropical appearance in the home garden. There is a red and green type but I only have the green type this year. The object is to see how large it will become before freeze-up. The beans, seed pods, must be accounted for in a home garden, since ingestion means sure death.The poison is ricin. Grown commercially for oil production castrol, and castor oil in manufacturing various products.Agricultural workers suffer debilitating effects, and the plant probably should be classified up there with asbestos. Grown commercially in India, Brazil, China, and some other countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil_plant More information.