Killer Umbrellas & Warty Caruncles- Castor Bean
Hello and welcome back to Rooted for the first time in a very long time. In order to really make the most of the spooky season- and ease my way back into podcasting after such a long break, I figured we could spend the month of October diving deep into deadly poisons, and spending some time digging into some true crime cases involving them.
Before we dig in, a quick disclaimer that I am just a lady who loves plants looking to entertain you. Nothing I say in this podcast should be taken as medical advice. Before you make any changes in your personal diet or care routine, you should check in with your care team and do your own research…and I think this goes without saying, but please do not use any of the things I will be sharing about poison to harm anyone or anything. Thank you.
Now that that’s out of the way- We’re going to kick things off with a plant you’ve likely heard of, and probably even seen if you live in the coastal south west- Castor.
Castor, or Ricinus communis (rice IN is CommUNe is) - more commonly called the Castor Bean or Castor Oil plant, is part of the Spurge family or euphorbiacea (eu for BEE a cee) family. Its famous relatives include Cassava and poinsettia .
As the fifth largest family, there are a TON of differences between relatives in terms of look and flowers, but they do have at least a few things in common including having alternate leaves (occasionally some are opposite, stipules (usually hairs but sometimes spines), and if their leaves are not simple, they are always palmate, which I remember because the leaves will always remind me of that guy from Pan’s Labarinth.
This family truly is fascinating, dating back nearly 66 million years tends to leave you with a LOT of lore in the botany world, but just know most of the family is made up of herbaceous plants, with a few trees/shrubs, and even some succulents for good measure….but for today we’re focusing on an herbaceous plant that gets super tall (up to 40 feet!), has dark palmate leaves with 5-12 lobes (think of them like the fingers, that have light serration. Usually they are a burgandy/copper color, but some varieties will turn green.
I wont lie to you- the flowers on this one are kinda freaky. They don't have any petals, so they are just these big spikes covered in male and female inflorescences, with the male part being yellow or white and kind of lumpy looking and then the female flowers being usually red and very spikey.
Once pollinated, the female flowers honestly do not get much better, as they form a fruit called a caruncle, which I read described quite a few times as a warty appendage that just kind of..hangs out there- I just think maybe the words warty and caruncle shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, but I had to read it so we ALL have to suffer with the mental image.
Caruncles are a form of elaisome, which is basically like a really tasty protein bar attached to the seed that makes ants want to pick up the seeds and ultimately help the plants spread out. An important note is that the ants do not eat the whole seed, but instead just the elaisome and then drag the rest of the seed-fully intact- to their discard pile where it then grows.
Castor’s native range spans from the southeastern Mediterranean basin to parts of India, but it has spread all over the world due to it being an extremely popular landscaping and medicinal plant.
If your algorithm shows you ANYTHING about hair growth or natural beauty products you have NO DOUBT seen people using Castor Oil on their heads and in their belly buttons…starting with hair, Castor Oil is applied to hair to act as sort of a deep conditioner. It absorbs well into the hair follicle helping to hydrate the hair while also sealing it to give it a healthier looking shine, It can also make hair appear more voluminous due to the hydration, which is why you might think of it as being for hair GROWTH.
While we don’t have any conclusive evidence that Castor Oil does actually make hair grow faster, we do know that it can help heal the scalp as an antibacterial and antifungal, and we do have some suggestive evidence that it might help to stimulate blood flow by opening up blood vessels when applied topically, which in theory could help to stimulate hair growth by providing more oxygen and nutrients to the scalp. This is all due to ricinoleic acid, a fatty acid prized for its antibacterial properties, ability to nourish and hydrate, and is also what gives castor oil its laxative benefits.
Going back to the belly button of it all, you may have seen people on tiktok wearing patches of castor oil on their belly buttons claiming that it helps to aid in digestion..while it may seem like a new thing (and in reality is NOT how castor oil works), this is actually a centuries old tradition that ties us back to ancient egyptians and greeks, who LOVED the stuff to cure tummy troubles, itchy buttholes, inflamed uteruses, and even scabies.
In the case of tummy troubles, castor oil would have been ingested, where ricinoleic acid gets to work as a stimulative laxative, telling the muscles in our intestines to contract a little faster and speeding up the pooping process. As far as the other mentioned uses, this would mostly be due to the antibacterial and antiinflammatory properties we mentioned earlier.
While people DID absolutely LOVE the stuff, I would be remiss if I didn't share the downsides with you…Downside ONE- this stuff is SMELLY- so stinky that ancient egyptians were literally writing home about it..If I had to describe it I would say it is very astringent in a sort of nose-burney way…a lot like neem oil, but with a little extra earthy funk.
The next less-than-fun fact is that a lot of people are very allergic to the plant, and some people are also very sensitive to the oil- if you have sensitive skin and/or seasonal allergies, proceed with caution on this one!
The last and least fun downside is that castor seeds are actually highly toxic, which I am sure you gathered by now since this IS part of the deadly poisons series..but the good news here is that the oil is NOT toxic.
This is because the oil is derived from crushing the seed pods to dispel the oil. Ricin- the toxin is only water soluble so it stays behind in the so called “seed meal” which can be detoxified and then used in fertilizer and livestock feed!
This process is still being studied and is deeply fascinating to me, so I will link it in the show notes for those who want to learn more! If you’re wondering why the heck anyone would even bother to try this, just know its because cows need a LOT of food and castor seeds are a VERY rich source of plant protein, so this is- in theory- a great way to get a lot of it for way less effort… assuming of course the toxin is fully removed via the magic of modern chemistry.
As far as CASTOR’s use in magic, the one thing I could really dig up comes from 11th century england where according to a SUPER old copy of “old english herbal” you could use castor to repel rain, but ONLY if you harvested it with pure thoughts- lusty bitches beware I guess..
Anyway, in order to get the hail to stay away you would just clutch the seeds, leaves, or whatever part you had handy and say “Ricinum plant, I pray you to be present at my singing and to avert hail and lightning and all storms in the name of the almighty God who bid you to be born.”
This really does help to highlight the ways that christianity was spreading while still allowing folks to incorporate more pagan roots into their traditions, which I do think is a really interesting part of not just our history, but also our relationships to plants, and we can still see this a lot today. I could probably do a whole episode on that, so we’ll leave it here for now..
Getting back on track, Castor has largely spread not JUST because of its valuable oil, but also for its use in landscaping. This plant has super unique leaves, and can grow really well without too much fuss, so it's really no shock that people love using it as a way to add interest and contrast to gardens. I see it mostly used as sort of a filler plant, and oftentimes it's trimmed to be more shrub-like vs being the 40 foot not-tree it could be. However, this turns out to be kind of a double edged sword, since the plant doesn't have a ton of pests and thrives on neglect, it also tends to be a very pervasive weed. I think here in Southern California I find it far more often on hikes and on the side of the road than I ever do in highly manicured or heavily designed gardens.
While some of this is just because tastes change, and here we have seen a massive shift to more tidy looking and modern landscaping plants, I think a decent part of this is also because this plant contains one of the most deadly poisons we have- Ricin. Said to be 6,000x as strong as cyanide and more than 12,000 x stronger than rattle snake venom, just 4 seeds can kill an adult human in a few hours…so I can totally see why this might not be a plant folks are super keen on planting these days.
The good news is that Ricin- the toxin found in the castor plant is only released when the beans are crushed, so if someone were to just swallow a whole seed they would likely be completely fine.
For those not so lucky, however, symptoms can appear as early as 2 hours or as many as 36 hours after ingestion. These symptoms can vary greatly, and ultimately depend on if Ricin was ingested, injected, or breathed in, with injection bringing the most intense and quickly onset symptoms. According to the CDC,
In breathed in, a person will experience: Difficulty breathing
Fever
Cough
Nausea
Tightness in the chest
Eventually symptoms may worsen into:
Heavy sweating
Fluid buildup in the lungs making it harder to breathe
Diagnosed by x-ray or stethoscope
Blue skin
Low blood pressure
Respiratory failure
If ingested:
Vomiting
Diarrhea (maybe bloody)
Severe dehydration
Low blood pressure
Other signs or symptoms may include:
Seizures
Blood in the urine
Liver, spleen, and kidney failure
If injected
Symptoms are very similar to breathing it in, but will often start with muscle soreness.
Now that we have a better understanding of what it can cause and feel like, let’s dig into what it is ACTUALLY doing in our bodies.
Ricin is a heterodimeric protein, meaning it is made up of 2 different strands that are bound together. We’re going to oversimplify it a bit for our purposes here, since it;s a very complex multi-step process, but basically once it enters the body, our cells very quickly bind to strand B in Ricin thinking it's just another tasty treat they need to survive..however, once they take in strand b, strand A wraps around them, blocking our cells from making any additional proteins, and eventually leading to cell death. Part of what makes ricin so dangerous is the ways in which it is able to so quickly bind and move through our bodies.
What makes it so dangerous is also what makes it so intriguing, as scientists are now trying to explore how we could potentially leverage ricin’s properties in things like cancer treatment (by having the proteins ONLY target or only stick to cancer cells), to help suppress type one diabetes, or even to sort of reverse engineer a cure for ricin poisoning.
As of right now though, we do NOT have a cure or really even a way to stop ricin once it enters the body. The CDC advises that those who suspect they have come into contact with Ricin should seek medical attention, where they will be given fluids and carefully monitored, but ultimately there isn’t much anyone can do…which is what the Soviet Union REALLY loved about it as a potential weapon back in the late seventies and early 80’s.
Picture this- it's a gloomy day in London in 1979. You are gearing up for a long day of meetings that could have been emails- if only email existed..You are waiting for your bus- hungry, tired, and THRILLED to get home and into something cozy- only 8 more hours to go.
As you're dreaming of your cozy pjs and brighter days to come, the man standing next to you yelps, while another strikes him with an umbrella and runs away. The man recovers relatively quickly, maybe you both kind of shrug - accepting that was super weird and random, board your bus, and move on with your life.
Less than a week later, you find out that man- renowned writer and anti-communist dissident Georgi Markov died. As more details come to the surface, it was revealed this was likely due to an attack by a KGB agent in retaliation for his work as a VERY outspoken journalist working for the BBC who left his home country of the republic of Bulgaria after the soviet regime banned many of his works and basically forced him to leave.
Markov was an extremely talented writer, a father, a husband, and a much needed outspoken voice for the Bulgarian people.
While his work did finally get the recognition it deserved and has gone on to win numerous awards, the truth is that Markov is mostly known for his death, And honestly- I get it, because this case is wild and started me down an insane rabbit hole about the weapons people were working on during the cold war- truly WHAT were we doing.
Going back to the story, Markov arrived at his office at the BBC and complained his leg hurt, telling his coworkers about the strange incident with the umbrella. Throughout the day, his leg continued to be sore, and he developed what is described as a small red pimple. As time went on he started feeling sick, developed a fever, and started to feel sick. He skipped that night’s broadcast, went home and got even worse. The next day he went to the hospital where doctors racked their brains considering things like venomous tropical snakes, mysterious viruses, and really anything they could think of. They ran tests, took x-rays, and tried to keep him as comfortable as they could, but within a few days his body started shutting down until he passed due to a heart attack.
This is where it gets REALLY wild, as in his autopsy the corner discovered a strange capsule- a small watch bearing- had been injected into his leg. This bearing had 2 strange holes drilled into it that formed and x shaped cavity that would have held about ⅕ of a milligram of..something- clearly some kind of poison, and professional began to suspect that ricin was to blame for Markov’s sudden death due to his symptoms: high white blood cell count, soreness in injection sight, and hemorrhages in internal organs.
Experts still had a LOT of questions, that was until a few weeks later when the KGB tried this trick again. This time though, investigators were able to remove the capsule from the victims back before the damage was done, and what they discovered was strange. It turns out that in order to be sure the ricin would enter the bloodstream. The holes in the capsule were sealed with a wax that would melt at body temperature, releasing the ricin directly into the blood stream and killing the victim slowly in a way that would be impossible to stop and would very likely escape detection. In fact, they weren't even able to confirm it was Ricin until they injected a pig with it and studied it VERY closely as it exhibited the exact same symptoms of Markov. The only reason they even suspected ricin in the first place was because it was rumored to be of interest to the soviet union as they were developing new and inconspicuous weapons.
It was later confirmed by a KGB defector that Markov was indeed targeted by the soviet union who was NOT a fan of his work and was eager to silence him. Over 10 years after his death, Markov’s works were allowed back into his home country and are now widely regarded, and in 2000 he was posthumously awarded the Order of Stara Planina, one of the most prestigious awards in Bulgaria.
While there are TONS of pop culture references and even a few other cases involving ricin, this is by far the most well known, and I think gives you a good idea of what the world was up to and thinking about during the cold war. While not nearly as common as you might believe, Ricin poisoning does still occur from time to time.
That being said, Castor is an important and iconic plant that can be seen across the globe. Next time you see it I hope you say hello and take a moment to consider all of the ways this freak of nature has impacted our lives and culture.
That’s all I’ve got for this week, but I’ll be back next week to dive into another toxic tale involving Agatha Christie, poisonous preworkout, and plenty of other twists and turns. See you then…
Thank you so much for listening! If you liked this show, please consider subscribing, and leaving us a review on spotify, apple podcasts, or anywhere else you listen. You can follow us on social media at Rooted.pod on Instagram and TikTok. We’re on Youtube at rooted.podcast, and check out our website rootedpod.com for transcripts, updates, and so much more.
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Until next time, be kind to yourselves, be kind to the earth, and just like a plant- drink your water.
Rooted: A Plant Podcast is a Henbane Media LLC Production. It’s written and produced by me- Em Grebner Gaddis with theme music by Eric Kluxen.
Sources:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6628454/
https://www.ahpa.org/herbs_in_history_ricinus
https://khkeeler.blogspot.com/2018/09/plant-story-castor-tall-beautiful-and.html
https://www.cdc.gov/chemical-emergencies/chemical-fact-sheets/ricin.html
https://www.themsv.org/ghastly-plants-interest/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14579547/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S014181301734045X
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15599751/
https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/umbrella-assassin-clues-evidence/1552/
https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/sep/14/bulgaria-umbrella-murder-archive-1978
https://www.iflscience.com/the-astonishing-true-story-of-the-poisoned-umbrella-assassination-69989
Shout out to the LA County Public Library, where I am able to find a lot of the studies I would otherwise need to pay A LOT of money to read in full! Support your local library
