What is the use of castor? There used to be a lot of castor, but now there are none?

The main functions of castor are as follows. First, refining industrial lubricants. Second, it is used as a traditional Chinese medicine. Third, research and use. When my country's industry was not so developed, castor oil was often chosen as industrial lubricant. Therefore, castor oil is currently mainly used as a material for drug research and as an industrial crop in my country. It has a certain therapeutic effect on many diseases such as polio. Since the demand is not particularly large, and the entire castor plant is poisonous, the quantity planted is much smaller.

Let’s first talk about the toxicity of castor itself. The toxicity of castor is a plant toxin. It is said that ricin was once used by intelligence agencies of various countries. It only takes about 10 milligrams of ricin to kill someone silently. The most notable use of ricin was a KGB assassination in London.

The KGB agent at the time converted the umbrella into a gun. The bullet it fires is a small hollow iron bead. These small iron beads contain milligrams of ricin inside. Because it is modified, its penetration is limited. The agent at the time chose to pretend to be a passerby and then poked the victim with the tip of an umbrella. The small iron beads then entered the victim's body. Because this small iron bead was too small, medical staff never discovered its existence. The victim eventually died of castor poisoning.

Under normal circumstances, eating 20 castor seeds will cause death in adults. Even if you eat one or two, you will have symptoms of poisoning for a long time. At that time, castor was grown in our village. As a result, several people in the village made a bet after drinking and one person ate a lot of castor seeds. Then he went home in high spirits. As a result, white paper flowers were hung at the door the next day. Castor seeds are already toxic to the human body, and this person was drunk before eating them. Alcohol accelerates blood circulation, so naturally the white cloth covers the body and the filial son throws the pot into the basin.

First, raw materials for industrial lubricants. Castor is actually a very important industrial oil crop. Castor seeds are poisonous, so the oil produced from castor beans is not edible. However, it has very good tolerance to high and low temperatures, so castor oil is widely used in industry. And many people who play the game will find that castor is a necessary crop for clothing. This is because the stem bark of castor is rich in fiber, so it is an important raw material for paper and clothing.

Secondly, in ancient times, people discovered that stir-frying castor seeds in an iron pan can remove their toxicity. This is because the ricin in castor seeds is a protein toxin. High temperature will denature the protein, so castor seeds are non-toxic and harmless after being cooked at high temperature. If I remember correctly, when I went to Huzhou, I saw locals eating fried castor seeds. There was indeed no poisoning reaction after eating it. There is a saying that castor is an invasive alien species. It seems that in China, any invasive alien species can find its place in the diet.

In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, castor is mainly a medicine for dispersing qi and relieving pain. Generally, the stems and leaves of castor are used. Modern medicine uses castor as a remedy for epilepsy. It is also used to treat neonatal tetanus.