The plants growwild along highways and in other spots in the U.S. They are also considered ornamental by some gardeners and are cultivated for medicinal castor oil and other products.
However Salafists - the ultraconservative fundamentalist Muslims - like to let their beards grow long and wild , often leaving their upper lip clean-shaven as a nod to how the Prophet Mohammed wore his own beard 1, 400 years ago.