Killer Plants on Brooklyn Stoops
“I want to grow the huge, gorgeous red-leafed plants I’ve seen on my neighbors’ stoops in Brooklyn,” writes a local gardener to Times Home & Garden columnist Leslie Land. “But I’ve been told they are ricinus, the plant that was used to assassinate the Bulgarian dissident Georgi I. Markov, back in 1978.” Turns out the…
“I want to grow the huge, gorgeous red-leafed plants I’ve seen on my neighbors’ stoops in Brooklyn,” writes a local gardener to Times Home & Garden columnist Leslie Land. “But I’ve been told they are ricinus, the plant that was used to assassinate the Bulgarian dissident Georgi I. Markov, back in 1978.” Turns out the popular plant (a.k.a. castor bean) contains ricin, which is “among the deadliest poisons known” — but plenty of other familiar plants, like larkspur, daphne and rhododendron, are toxic, too…
According to the garden expert:
“Castor beans are fine to grow as long as you do not eat them and are careful to keep children away from the attractive mottled seeds. For safety, plants in public places, including front stoops, should have their bright red seedpods removed. As you may have noticed, nobody does this. Yet accidental poisonings are rare.”
She also notes that the show-stopping (and sort of deadly) plants can grow to 8 feet tall in a single season. We’ve seen a lot of this plant around town, so it must be very hardy here, but can any of the gardeners out there suggest other climate-friendly plants that aren’t dripping with poisonous seeds?
Poison on the Stoop [NY Times]
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Also be careful with poinsettias over the holidays – they are poisonous to cats!