The Castor Bean (Ricinus communis) is not really botanically a bean, but a seed, and is a source of castor oil, which has numerous uses industrial and medicinal.
Also present in the seed (and throughout the rest of the plant) is a water-soluble toxin called ricin, which is a highly potent toxin, lethal to humans in tiny amounts. It is a botanical poison of real life and fictious spy-type stories.
The Castor Bean plant is the sole species in the genus Ricinus, and native to the Mediterranean, Africa and India, but now widespread across the world in frost-free climates and also grown as an ornamental. Despite its content of ricin, this plant has a multitude of uses.
Castor Oil itself has numerous medicinal traditional uses, the most well-substantiated pertaining to its laxative use.
Castor Oil is also used for stimulate labor in pregnancy and also for patients suffering dry eye, and for soothing the eye after a foreign body presence (with eye drops containing castor oil).
Other traditional include topically for dissolving cysts and growths, to promote the flow of breast milk, for inflammatory skin disorders, middle ear inflammation, migraine headaches, and as a contraceptive.
Various other types of extracts of the Castor Bean plant are being studied as analgesics, anti-inflammatory, antihistamines, anti-nociceptives and antimicrobials.
Industrial uses of Castor Oil include as lubricants for special purposes, for production of biodiesel, as a raw material for a food ingredients (used for improving flow of certain buttery food/cosmetics), and for repelling moles and voles in the lawn.
The castor beans themselves have a number of other uses, such as in crafts like making necklaces and bracelets, and the leaves in eco-printing.
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*This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal physician.