A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion The Plants and Flowers Forum Mystery Plants? Large plant...no pix

Hi all, I have a question about a plant...but no picture to show. It is so extremely different from anything I've ever seen I think I could do a pretty good job of describing it. Maybe someone will have a good guess from that.

I work a part time job nights cleaning offices at a factory. I think it was in June that someone in the office had a bowl set on a window sill with water and 2 very large white seeds (about the size of a kidney bean) soaking in it. They left them in the bowl about 2 weeks. The next thing I saw was a sign in the center of the small garden behind the factory that said "office plant/do not remove".

Now there are 2 plants growing. One is only about 3 foot tall, the other is about 5 foot. Both have enormous leaves. The stem of the plant is red. I thought at first that there were red floral plumes growing on it but on closer inspection found that these are actually large balls with spikes. The balls form a triangular shape, kind of like a cluster of grapes but upside down. So instead of being a V shape it's more of an A.

I left a note asking what kind of plant it is, but found the note in the waste basket when I went to clean at night.

Does anyone have a guess from this? If not I'll just try again with the note thing.

Thanks for any response...Mary

Sounds a lot like castor bean (ricinus communis). Very poisonous, specially the seeds. But can be very pretty too. Try googling images to see if they match your plant.

yep, that's what i thought, a castor bean. it is an annual plant, so it will die back later. and very, very poisonous.

Thanks...I did a search and found out you are correct. This is a castor oil plant! Wow! I thought of getting a couple seeds, but whenever I see the word INVASIVE as a description of a plant I back off. Thanks so much for the info. Have a wonderful day.

it depends on where you live if they are invasive. they are pretty, i keep planning to plant some on the edge of my yard, but never get there. i guess it will be oleander instead for me.