Читать книгу Extreme Nature - Mark Carwardine - Страница 15

NAME	castor bean Ricinus communis
LOCATION	worldwide; origin unknown, but probably Ethiopia
ABILITY	producing the deadly poison ricin

© Haroldo Palo Jr/NHPA

The castor bean plant produces possibly the most deadly plant toxin, 6,000 times more deadly than cyanide, but it has also been known for thousands of years as a wonder plant. The secret and the poison both lie in the seed. More than 50 per cent of it comprises a rich oil, but to protect it from being eaten is ricin, a protein toxic to almost all animals (lesser quantities of ricin occur in the leaves). The poison, once ingested, inactivates the key protein-making elements of a cell without which it can’t maintain itself and dies.

For humans, death is prolonged, ending in convulsions and failure of the liver and other organs. There is no known antidote. The most usual cause of poisoning comes from accidentally eating seeds, but ricin can be administered in aerosol form, in food or water, or injected, as in the famous case of a dissident Bulgarian journalist. While waiting at a bus stop at Waterloo station in London, in 1978, Georgi Markov was murdered by being stabbed with an umbrella that injected a pellet containing ricin. Widely available and easily produced, ricin could be used for biological warfare.

It is equally easy to extract the seed’s valuable oil, however, which has been used for at least 4,000 years as a lamp oil and soap and also as medicine for a huge array of ailments. Today its uses include high-grade lubricants, textile dyes, printing ink, waxes, polishes, candles and crayons. In the future, its array of protective chemicals may even provide a cure for tumours.