Once listed as a strategic material by the United States, what is the use of castor bean, the most common plant in rural China? Such ordinary plants are not expensive, and they are very simple to plant, as long as there is soil, sunlight and rain, they are inexhaustible and inexhaustible. What is the fact that this plant, which has grown in rural China for more than 1,400 years, does not even eat pigs, is called oil grown in the land, and is favored by the United States? "Tang Materia Medica" records that castor leaves can be used in medicine, have the effect of dispelling wind and dehumidification, the stem can be made into hemp, paper, the most precious is that it can be refined into oil, castor beans oil content is as high as about 45%, ultra-high oil yield is an important bioenergy, the most promising chemical raw materials. Castor oil has the characteristics of cold resistance, high temperature resistance and lubrication, in World War II, refined castor oil is widely used as a lubricant for internal combustion engines, and is also the most important lubricating oil and brake oil for aerospace. Because castor oil has good storage stability, almost no oxidative rancidity occurs in the air, and has the characteristics of good stability, wettability and lubricity. After detoxification treatment, castor oil can also be used as high-quality protein feed and fertilizer, not only one of the world's top ten oil crops, but also the only green oil resource that can replace oil, becoming the preferred crop for biomass energy development. And according to archaeological research, there were castor seeds in Egyptian grains more than 4,000 years ago, and the ancients also played the role of this plant to the extreme, especially now that oil is scarce, it is urgent to find alternative oil resources. That's why the United States listed castor oil as one of the eight strategic materials. According to information released on CNPC's official website, since 2009, the mainland has become the world's largest importer of castor beans. Why is castor bean, once cultivated on a large scale in China, now rare?
Castor beans used to be a very common crop in rural China, and there was even a nursery rhyme called I grow castor beans for my motherland, but why was it used for assassinations, and now it is rare? Things have to start from the 80s of the last century, castor beans in the mainland planting area and production have reached the world's first position. The production cycle of castor beans is short, it only takes a few months from planting to harvesting, and high-yield seeds can produce more than 150 kilograms of oil per mu, and if it is in a place with good lighting conditions like Xinjiang, the oil production will be better, so at that time, people could also go to the supply and marketing cooperatives to exchange money with castor. Due to the rapid development of industry and the improvement of living standards in the mainland, the countryside no longer needs to use castor oil to illuminate or stir-fry, coupled with the increase in the price of grain, so the scale of castor cultivation in the countryside is getting less and less. Later, in the 90s, the Zibo Academy of Agricultural Sciences in Shandong Province successfully developed China's first hybrid castor variety, which is not only drought and salt resistant, the technical requirements for cultivation are simple, and it is more efficient, only cultivated on dry and thin ground. Higher economic benefits can be obtained, and if dry farming is carried out on cultivated land, yields and benefits can be greatly improved. Today, in the current vegetable oil, castor will become the most likely resource to replace oil with its unique advantages. And castor beans have a very high use value, are widely used, and have been integrated into our lives in many fields. Although castor has many advantages in one, it is more deadly than cobra venom, and even the protagonist of some foreign assassinations. Do you know what kind of murder is hidden behind castor?
Ordinary is just its disguise, super poison is the essence of castor, once used by spies from many countries. The toxicity of castor is very strong, the toxicity is about three times that of cobra venom, and more than 6,000 times that of cyanide, because eating castor directly can cause hemorrhagic diarrhea and liver and kidney damage. If the extracted ricinin is directly injected into the human body, it will interfere with the central nervous system, and respond quickly, which can cause death in a short time, especially pregnant women must stay away. In 2005, China's pharmacopoeia already stipulated that castor oil is a medicine for maternal stepfathers. In recent years, ricin has become internationally famous, possibly influenced by Hollywood movies. A man in Mississippi, USA, was arrested and sentenced to 25 years in prison for sending a letter containing ricin like then-US President Barack Obama. In 2020, the White House received another letter that also contained ricin. The practicality of castor beans is too strong, the United States alone uses castor oil to produce hundreds of items, I believe that in the near future, castor oil will completely become a substitute for oil, then thank castor beans for the rich gifts to mankind.