In message , Sacha
writes
On 8/9/04 16:13, in article ,
"chris" wrote:

This plant is at least five feet tall, posibly more with fleshy stems
about half a inch thick, bronze red colour all over except the
undersides of the leaves. I can send a photo. The leaves are deeply
cut like a hand, at least one foot across possibly more and the
flowers are separate male and female, the male is a bright red spiky
ball, although fleshy and not sharp to the touch and the female is
creamy white. It looks very spectacular and is cut down by the frost
but has survived at least one winter, possibly due to it being in a
sheltered position in a flowerbed surrounded by concrete. It just
appeared last summer in my neighbours garden, but they don,t know how
it got there or anything about it.
Chris

Could be Ricinus communis which sounds right for colour of some varieties.
Have a look at this and NB that it's very poisonous:
http://www.ansci.cornell.edu/plants/castorbean.html

Yes. It sounds exactly like the ornamental cultivar which has almost
metallic looking red bronze foliage. Popular as a bedding plant on the
continent and will grow OK in most of the UK.

There is an ordinary boring looking green form as well. It is usually
quite tender and expires due to fungal rot during most UK winters.

Regards,
--
Martin Brown