Fig. 35. LAKVA OF DEILEPHILA NICAIA, THE NICE SPHINX. 



EUPHORBIAS. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE Castor Oil Plant (Ricinus communis) is easily 

 known by its large palrnate-lobed leaves, and by the 

 rank smell which these give out when bruised. It is 

 of very rapid growth ; a specimen at La Mortola 

 grew to a height of over five yards in four years, with 

 a woody stem thick in proportion. The Castor Oil 

 Plant flourishes particularly well at Monaco, and 

 near the Var I have seen it. develop into a small 

 tree. But it is unable to bear much cold, and is one 

 of the first shrubs to be blackened by a frost. Even 

 as far south as Athens it does not always succeed. 



The fruit is highly elastic, like that of most 

 Euphorbias ; when it is sufficiently dry the carpels 

 explode with great force. I have been startled by 

 some fruits which I had placed on a shelf shooting 

 their seeds right across the room. It is easy to 

 understand the violence with which some tropical 

 Euphorbias, such as the Sand-box (Hura) must 



