RICINUS COMMUNIS

Family and Genus:- See- EUPHORBIACEAE

Common Names:- Castor-oil plant

Homotypic Synonyms:- Ricinus communis var. genuinus, Ricinus communis

var. typicus.

Meaning:- Ricinus (L) Tick, the appearance of the caruncled and coloured seeds.

Communis (L) Growing in clumps, gregarious, common.

General description:- Annual herb or shrub, green or often flushed with purple,

bronze or red.

Stems:-

1) Up to 4 m.

Leaves:-

1) Up to 60 cm, peltate, palmate with 5-9, coarsely toothed lobes, shiny, lanceolate

to ovate-lanceolate, acuminate, irregularly dentate.

Flower:-

1) In large terminal panicles, the male below the female;

a) male, with numerous yellowish stamens.

b) female with bright red stigmas;

2) Petals inconspicuous, membranous.

3) Male flowers with a membranous perianth; stamens numerous; filaments

repeatedly branched.

4) Female flowers with a caducous, membranous perianth; ovary 3-locular.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, 10-20 mm, with long conical projections or smooth.

2) Seed, 9-17 mm, smooth, shiny, reddish-brown to blackish, marked in various

shades of white, grey or brown; caruncle large.

Comment:-

They are highly poisonous, and the oil has to be refined before it is safe for use.

Click here for a glossary of terms used.

Habitat:- Cultivated and waste ground, gardens, roadsides, stream banks. 0-800 m.

Distribution:- Widespread and common throughout the Mediterranean. Widespread

and common on Crete. A introduced species, probably native of India. Cultivated for

the production of caster oil.

Flowering time:- Feb-Oct

Photos by:- Steve Lenton