2S8 CASTOR OIL PLANT. 



•'Castor Oil Plant", is ver)- adaptable and behaves as an 

 annual in our gardens, completing its development in the 

 ^•ear. It can ripen its Jruits even at Christiania. It has 

 been introduced into all countries. That it came from 

 Africa is probable, but ditTicult tOo prove. VCe \n\ue 

 tliis plant for its large handsome palmate-lobed leaves. 

 In the autumn it produces its llo\\'ers in pamiicles; the 

 clusters of ^-ellow staminate flowers below, and the car- 

 pellary flowers ^\ ith their red stigmas above. In the 

 north tlie plant is killed hv the lirst frost. The fact that 

 the Ricinus lives so many ■(.•ears on the Riviera and grows 

 to such a size, bears eloquent testimony- to the mildness 

 of the climate here. The purgati^•e 'properties of the 

 Castor Oil were alread\' known in ancient Cjreece, and 

 Dioscorides enumerates it among the aperients. In the 

 Middle Ages also it was used for the same purjiose. 

 Albertus Magnus cultivated this jplant under the name 

 of "Kik", and it is still called "Kiki" in Greece today. 

 This plant is called 'AVunderbaum'' in German, because 

 it \\ us thought to corres]-)ond to that '•Gourcr' wjiich, 

 according to legend, gre\'\- up so rapidh- in one night 

 tliat it ^\ as able to atlord sliade to the Prophet lonah. 

 The sharjj-tasting Ricinus acid, as well as several other 

 lixcd acids, have been extracted from Castor Oil: but it 

 has not ^•et been ascertained to which princij^le the piu"- 

 gative effect is due. ^Fhe Chinese deprive the oil of its 

 ]Turgati\"e projierties li\- boiling it with alum, sugar, and 

 ^\"ater, and when treated in this \\a\ the oil ma\ be used 

 for food. A famous (^"liinese disli, which strangers also 

 appreciate, is sharks lins fried in (^'astor Oil. 



