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belgianpup

Castor bean varieties

Belgianpup
15 years ago

Is there any way to tell Castor Bean varieties apart?

I have six trades and they're all marked "Castor Beans". The beans seem to be of two, maybe three, types.

One is larger, a solid dark brown, and are shaped almost like a rounded square.

The next is bean-sized with dark brown streaks with a light-colored filigree design.

The third kind is like the second, but larger, and lighter colored, almost silvery with lighter brown.

An ID would be wonderful.

Sue

Comments (4)

  • JohnnieB
    15 years ago

    Sorry, I don't think you'll know what they are until you grow them.

  • origami_master
    15 years ago

    from what I know, the solid black/dark brown ones that look like rounded squares have green leaves

    the molted lighter brown one with streaking is the common red variety

    the even lighter brown/silvery whitish ones should be the same as the streaked ones (red leaves) but maybe the seed coat was partially scraped off. another possibility is that the seeds were'nt ripe when they were picked. to check (at least with castor beans) give them a good squeeze between the index finger and thumb. if they crumber, they wer too old and wouldn't have grown. If should take quite a bit of force to squish viable beans.

  • glaswegian
    15 years ago

    Do a search for the seeds on google, there are a few pages with what seeds are of which cultivar

  • flora2
    14 years ago

    I love, love Castor beans. Where can you get them locally? Thanks