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Habitat

The castor bean is indigenous to Africa and India and has spread to all tropical and sub-tropical countries.  Curious about plants that are native to the North America?  Click here to learn about the American Raspberry.  It is currently located in the United States in 28 states and in 2 colonies.

It is seen in tropical and sub-tropical climates because the castor bean plant is a warm season crop.  The plant is known to grow from 30 to 40 feet in tropical climates and can become three to six inches around.  However, in temperate climates, such as North America, they typically grow between three and eight feet.  A growing period of 140-190 days without frost is required to obtain satisfactory yields.  It grows as a perennial plant in tropical and sub-tropical climates and as an annual plant in temperate climates.

Ideal soil conditions are deep, moderately fertile, slightly acidic, sandy loams and well drained.  Unbeknownst to most common people excessively fertile soil isn’t desirable because it favors vegetative growth and not seed growth.  Therefore, the seed yield is considerably lower than it could be.

In the United States the best location for these growing conditions are southern Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma and north Texas.  A lot of these regions also happen to be where a lot of the first castor oil mills were opened.  Interested in learning about another plant harvested in the United States?  Go here to learn about hops!

The map shown is probably an incomplete list knowing that almost every state has someone who grows the castor plant in their garden.  This map shows where higher concentrations of castor plants are.

Still curious about the castor bean plant?  Go on to Adaptation to learn more!

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