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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Novice on October 19, 2011, 10:55:54 PM

Title: What weed is this?
Post by: Novice on October 19, 2011, 10:55:54 PM
Since the January flood , all along the Brisbane River this weed is in the process of taking over the river's banks. Any idea what it is? It has a thorny trunk/stems on it.

Cheers,
Dave.
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: WayneD on October 19, 2011, 11:26:08 PM
No idea on the weed but damn those snags look good. Did you pull any bass from there?
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: Binder on October 20, 2011, 05:52:52 AM
I know them as castor oil plant.
Introduced weed, my pommy mother in law loves them, even planted them in her garden.  :o

really good at getting a hold on in disturbed soil, which I suppose most of the banks are after the flood.
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: 4weightfanatic on October 20, 2011, 05:59:46 AM
Looks like a member of the native Rosella plants (related to Hibiscus). If the thorns on the stems are small and "glass-like" almost clear it will get a flower like a hibiscus - large white petals with a purple maroon centre. However the rosella has a leaf half way between whats in the picture and a dope leaf with the blades of the leaves more separated but I have seen a few variations. The leaves on that look more like a Castor Oil plant. There is one easy way to tell just break a leaf or stem and if it is white sap will ooze just don't get it in your mouth or eyes. The native Rosella self seeds very easily so this may be it. Pat
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: rayke1938 on October 20, 2011, 06:32:43 AM
Castor oil plant seeds very poisonous contain ricin.
Cheers
Ray
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: Dodge on October 20, 2011, 06:42:12 AM
Yes agree, looks like caster oil plant which are prolific growers as has been already said above.
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: aussiebasser on October 20, 2011, 08:09:33 AM
Castor oil plant  (Ricinus communis)  Castor bean fruit has been found in ancient Egyptian sarcophagi among the objects that should accompany the dead in their voyage through the Land of Death. The castor oil plant has large palm-shaped leaves with 7-9 portions, cluster-like blossoms and prickly fruits, each carrying 3 seeds. All parts are poisonous, especially the beans.  Castor beans affect all animals and humans. Even one of them may be sufficient to cause death. They contain some of the strongest toxins of our planet’s flora: the alkaloid ricinin and the toxalbumin ricin, the latter being a plant lectin, or protein, more toxic even than strychnos and cyanides. What is more, it has the ability to accumulate in the organism until the lethal dose is reached. The symptoms then are nausea and vomiting, stomach ache, bloody diarrhoea, headache, cold sweat, sleepiness, disorientation, fever, shortage of breath, seizures, followed by a collapse and death.  It is also cultivated in many other countries as an ornamental annual plant 1-2 m high. In the U.S.A., it also grows in waste areas and roadsides.   50-70% of its seed content is thick fatty oil, which contains vitamins A and D–the so-called castor oil. It has been used as a purgative in medicine since ancient times.
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: bushwacker on October 20, 2011, 10:16:10 AM
Peice of piss to get a chip hoe under them and get the roots out tho  :popcorn)

Steve
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: Novice on October 20, 2011, 05:42:09 PM
No idea on the weed but damn those snags look good. Did you pull any bass from there?

Not from that snag Wayne. There's heaps of that type of structure in that part of the river.

Thanks guys for the info on this plant.

Cheers,
Dave.
Title: Re: What weed is this?
Post by: Double-M on January 16, 2018, 08:18:49 PM
The leaves look like Castor Oil Plant. Castor Oil plant has thorns / slikes on the stems too. It is also the plant from which ricin, one of the most toxic poisons, is made. Do NOT muck around with the fruit / seed pods.