Polyploid castor plants, compositions derived therefrom and uses of same
A polyploid castor plant being at least as fertile as a diploid castor plant isogenic to the polyploid castor plant when grown under similar conditions.
1. A castor plant as deposited under the Budapest treaty in NCIMB Ltd. and having Accession No. NCIMB 41593 Ricinus communis B2-20-4N.
2. A plant part comprising plant cells of the castor plant of claim 1 .
3. The plant part of claim 2 being a seed.
4. An isolated regenerable cell of the castor plant of claim 1 .
5. The cell of claim 4 , exhibiting genomic stability for at least 5 passages in culture.
6. The cell of claim 4 being from a meristem, pollen, a leaf, a root, a root tip, an anther, a pistil, a flower, a seed or a stem.
7. A tissue culture comprising the regenerable cell of claim 4 .
8. A method of producing castor seeds, comprising self-breeding or cross-breeding the plant of claim 1 with a tetraploid castor plant.
9. A method of producing castor oil, the method comprising:
(a) harvesting seeds of the castor plant of claim 1 ; and
(b) processing said seeds so as to produce the castor oil.