STORY BEHIND THE ART OF LINDA POWERS

Weird, Wild, & Wonderful

Second New York Botanical Garden Triennial Exhibition

2014 - 2016

Castor Bean

Ricinus communis

While traveling in Mexico, I was intrigued by the Castor Bean plants growing tall along the roadsides in huge numbers.

Very ornamental, it is loved by some and cultivated in gardens, but is also despised as an invasive plant (as I saw in Mexico.) Very colorful, there are star-shaped leaves in brilliant green and purplish-red, monoecious flowers in red, pink and white, and spiny capsules containing uniquely-patterned seeds that look like ticks and contain the infamous ricin poison.

Very dramatic and very deadly . . . how could this plant not be called weird, wild and wonderful?

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