474 



RIC 



THE UNIVERSAL HERBAL; 



RIC 



six-cleft, acute, erect. Stamina: filaments six, very short; 

 antheree roundish, small at the incisures of the corolla. Pis- 

 til: germen inferior, three-lobed; style filiform, the length of 

 the stamina, three-parted at top ; stigmas blunt. Pericarp : 

 none. Seeds: three, round on one side, angular on the other, 

 at top wider, gibbous. Observe. It varies, according to 

 Gsertner, with the calix and corolla eight-cleft, and eight 

 stamina. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Cdlix: six-parted. Co- 

 rolla: one-petalled, subcylindric. Seeds: three. The 



only known species is, 



1. Richardia Scabra. Leaves lanceolate, ovate, alternately 

 nerved, quite entire, subpetioled, rugged ; flowers in termi- 

 nating heads, and also heaped into whorls ; the former radiate 

 with four or more leaves, alternately larger and smaller. 

 Native of Vera Cruz. 



Richeria ; a genus of the class Dioscia, order Pentandria; 

 or of the class Polygamia, order Dioecia. GENERIC CHA- 

 RACTER. Male Flower. Calix: perianth one-leafed, per- 

 manent, inferior, four-cleft or five-cleft ; clefts ovate, acute, 

 subtomentose ; (according to Ryan three-leaved, very small.) 

 Corolltf: petals four or five, roundish, the length of the calix: 

 (Ryan says, one-petalled, with five concave segments.) Nec- 

 tary four or five glands, at the base of the germen. Stamina: 

 four or five, (according to Ryan six,) between the glands of 

 the nectary, erect, longer than the calix, (which the same 

 author describes as the length of the corolla;) antheree oblong, 

 erect ; (Ryan says, twin.} Pistil : germen conical, villose ; 

 style none ; stigma none. Female Flower. Calix and Corolla : 

 as in the male ; nectary a rim round the base of the germen. 

 Stamina : none. Pistil : germen superior, ovate ; style very 

 short; stigmas three, revolute, channelled above. (Ryan 

 describes the stigmas as bicapitate.) Pericarp : capsule cor- 

 ticate, subovate, smooth and even, three-celled, having six 

 valves opening from the base. Seed: one in each cell, ber- 

 ried, pendulous below the tip of the columella. Observe. 

 Ryan remarks, that the fruit is a capsular berry, or a berried 

 capsule. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Capule : corticate, six- 

 valved, three-celled. Seeds: solitary, pendulous, below the 

 tip of the columella. Style: trifid.' The only known spe- 

 cies-is, 



1. Richeria Grandis. A tree, of a great size. Leaves 

 mostly at the ends of the branches, alternate, frequently six 

 or seven inches in length; spikes axillary, solitary, longer 

 than the footstalks, lax ; capsule the size of a hazel-nut. 

 Ryan discovered this very rare tree in Montserrat, in one 

 place only, where fifteen or twenty trees altogether filled up 

 a small valley among the high mountains. 



Ricinus; a genus of the class Monoscia, order Monadel- 

 phia. GENERIC CHARACTER. Male. Calix : perianth one- 

 leafed, five-parted; segments ovate, concave. Corolla: none. 

 Stamina : filamenta numerous, filiform, branchingly collected 

 below into various bodies; antherse twin, roundish. Females, 

 on the same plant. Calix : perianth one-leafed, three-parted; 

 segments ovate, concave, deciduous. Corolla: none. Pistil: 

 germen ovate, covered with subulate bristly bodies ; styles 

 three, two-parted, from erect spreading, hispid ; stigmas 

 simple. Pericarp : capsule roundish, three-grooved, prickly 

 all over, three-celled, three-valved. Seeds : solitary, sub- 

 ovate. ESSENTIAL CHARACTER. Male. Calix: five-parted. 

 Corolla: none. Stamina : numerous. Female. Calix: three- 

 cleft. Corolla: none. Styles: three, bifid. Capsule: three- 

 celled. Seed: one. The species are, 



1. Ricinus Inermis; Smooth-fruited Palma-Christi. Leaves 

 peltate, snbpalmate, serrate; petioles glandular; fruits un- 

 armed. This can hardly be regarded as a distinct species 

 Native of the Spanish West Indies. See the next species 



2. Ricinus Communis; Common Palma-Christi, or Castor- 

 oil Plant. Leaves peltate, subpalmate, serrate ; fruits prickly. 

 The root is biennial, thick, long, and whitish, beset with many 

 small fibres. It rises with a strong herbaceous stalk to the 

 leight of ten or twelve feet. The joints are at a great dis- 

 tance from each other; the stalks and branches are of a gray 

 colour ; the leaves are large, and on long footstalks ; they 

 are deeply divided into seven lobes, and are gray on their 

 under sides. The flowers are disposed in long spikes, which 

 spring from the division of the branches : the males are placed- 

 on the lower part of the spike ; the females, which occupy the 

 upper part, have prickly calices. Native of the West Indies. 

 This plant, which in our gardens is annual and herbaceous, 

 n Africa becomes a tree. There are several varieties of it ; 

 as, the Great American Palma-Christi, with brown stalks that 

 divide into two or three branches, and rise six or seven feet 

 high ; the Green-stalked American Palma-Christi, with a 

 thick herbaceous stem of a grayish-green, rising about four 

 fee* ; the Wrinkled-capsuled Palma-Christi, risi-ng with an 

 herbaceous stalk four feet high; the Red-stalked Palma- 

 Christi, rising ten or twelve feet high, with many joints, and 

 dividing into several branches ; the Small American Palma- 

 Christi, seldom rising above three feet high; and the Livid- 

 leaved Palma-Christi, an evergreen tree about ten feet high, 

 growing in the East Indies. In the West Indies, the oil is 

 used in the boiling-house lamps by many of the sugar- 

 planters. The roots are looked upon as strong diuretics ; 

 and the leaves are generally used to dress blisters. In China 

 the oil is rendered esculent and palatable, but is seldom 

 used in medicine. In Japan, the seeds pounded with Mouxa 

 and Touche or Japan ink, are put into a little box or case, 

 over which a piece of silk is stretched, and that is besmeared 

 with oil, that the powder underneath may be moistened by 

 it: whenever a Japanese has occasion to put his seal, which 

 is often curiously wrought in horn, to any thing, he first dips 

 the seal into this" box, and then impresses it upon the writing. 

 Thus this powder supplies the place of printers' ink, and it 

 is therefore necessary that the silk should be moistened 

 afresh with oil as fast as it dries. The well-known Castor- 

 oil, so useful as a speedy but gentle purgative, is extracted 

 from the seeds of this plant. The London College directed 

 it to be expressed in the same way as that of almonds, and 

 without the assistance of heat, by which method it would 

 seem to be obtained in the purest state ; but there is much 

 reason to suppose that this is seldom practised, and that the 

 oil usually employed here is imported from the West Indies, 

 where it is commonly prepared by freeing the seeds from the 

 husks, bruising them in a mortar, tying them up in a linen 

 bag, throwing them into a large pot, with about eight gallons 

 of water to one gallon of seeds, and boiling them till the oil is 

 risen to the surface ; when it is carefully skimmed off, strained, 

 and kept for use. Thus prepared, the oil is entirely free from 

 acrimony, and will stay upon the stomach even when it 

 loathes most other medicines : but its mildness seems to be 

 chiefly owing to the action of the fire, for the expressed oil, 

 as well as the mixed juices of the seed, is, according to Browne, 

 far more violent in its operations. The oil intended for medi- 

 cinal use is more frequently cold-drawn, or extracted from 

 the bruised seeds by means of a hand-press ; but this was 

 thought more acrimonious than what is prepared by boiling. 

 It is now well known, however, that oil obtained by boiling 

 becomes much sooner rancid than that by expression. The 

 best sort is limpid, and destitute of taste or smell. Castor-oil, 

 observes the celebrated Dr. Cullen, when the stomach can be 

 reconciled to it, is one of the most agreeable purgatives we 

 can employ. It has these advantages, that it commonly ope- 



