Kent Mathewson is pictured in Mexico with a Castor Bean Plant. He is giving a lecture on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. at Hurlbut Church in Chautauqua Institution.

CHAUTAUQUA – What do King Tut, Cleopatra, Yahweh and Jonah, Hippocrates, Herodotus, Albertus Magnus, François Mackandal, Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benito Mussolini, Edgar Cayce, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Barack Obama, Walter White, and Donald Trump have in common? All of these famous figures are part of the amazing history and story of the castor bean plant, Ricinus communis. Perhaps no plant has yielded a greater range of uses and abuses than the castor plant. Among others, it has been a source for medicinal treatments, ritual and religious practices, cosmetic applications, lubricants of many varieties, including for industry, aviation, and automotive purposes, and most notorious – as a weapon of political oppression and assassination.

The public is invited to see and hear the lecture “The Amazing Story of the Castor Bean Plant: From Invasion Weed to Weapon of Mass Destruction” by Dr. Kent Mathewson, retired professor of geography. The lecture will follow the monthly Chautauqua Community Dinner, Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., Truesdale Hall, Hurlbut Church, 21 Scott Avenue, Chautauqua Institution. Attendees are asked to please bring a dish to share, and a place setting. Coffee and tea will be provided. A small contribution is welcomed.

The lecture is also available on YouTube:

https://accesschautauquacountytv.org/episode/I0fJMmu4XeA