rich] 



Q\)t Ereatfurn al 2Sctan». 



984 



leaving a circular scar when they fall away 

 Their flowers are disposed in spikes or in 

 simple or branched racemes; and have a 

 small flve-lobed or five-parted thin calyx 

 without bracts; a cap-like corolla, which 

 ultimately becomes detached near the bot- 

 tom and falls away in a single piece ; Ave 

 stamens rising from below the ovary with 

 scales between them ; and a five-celled 

 ovary containing numerous ovules hang- 

 ing from the top of the central column. 



R.pandanifolia -is In general appearance 

 widely different from the usual character 

 of epacrids, though in the structure of its 

 flowers it perfectly agrees with them. It 

 has a long slender naked stem, marked 

 with circular rings like those of many 

 palms, attaining a height of from thirty to 

 forty feet with a diameter of about nine 

 inches, and crowned with a dense tuft of 

 shining wavy sword-shaped leaves from 

 three to five feet in length, with their 

 edges sharply toothed like a saw — the 

 whole plant having very much the appear- 

 ance of a screwpine. [A. S.] 



RICHELLB DB MARS. (Fr.) A Tnti- 

 cum. 



RICHWEBD. Pilea pumila. 



RICINELLE. (Pr.) Aealypha. 



RICINOCARPUS. A genus of small erect 

 euphorbiaceous bushes found in the tem- 

 perate parts of Australia and Tasmania; 

 and related to Jatropha, from which they 

 differ in the numerous stamens of the 

 sterile flowers. R. pinifolia, one of the 

 commonest species, is found in Eastern 

 Australia and Tasmania, and is a rosemary- 

 like bush two to four feet high, with 

 numerous alternate rigid linear revolute 

 leaves. The flowers are sterile and fertile 

 on the same plant, and are borne singly 

 in the axils of the upper leaves, the sterile 

 with slender stalks the length of the leaves, 

 the fertile with shorter and stouter stalks. 

 They have a four to six-parted calyx, a 

 corolla of a like number of narrow white 

 petals, a cone of numerous stamens in the 

 sterile, and a three-celled ovary crowned 

 with three forked styles in the fertile flow- 

 er. The fruits are rough three-celled and 

 three-lobed capsules, with one seed in each 

 cell. The fruits are somewhat like those 

 of Ricimis, and from this resemblance the 

 genus reT-eives its name. There are eight 

 species, all very similar in habit. [A. A. B.] 



RICINUS. A genus of Euphorbiacece, 

 comprising various species inhabiting tro- 

 pical Asia and Africa. The principal gene- 

 ric characters are as follows :— Flowers mo- 

 noecious ; calyx with three to five seg- 

 ments; corolla absent; stamens very nu- 

 merous, their filaments combined into a 

 number of separate bundles ; style short, 

 divided into three forked feathery stigma- 

 tic branches; fruit globular, prickly, ulti- 

 mately dividing into three one-seeded seg- 

 ments. 



The best-known species is R. commu- 

 nis, the seeds of which yield castor-oil. 

 The plant is a native of India, but is now 



widely distributed over the warmer re- 

 gions of the globe and throughout the 

 Mediterranean region. It is even culti- 

 vated in this country as an annual, and is 

 known under the name of Palma Christi. 



Ricimis communis. 



In our climate the stems do not attain a 

 height of more than from three to five 

 feet; in India, however, they grow from 

 eight to ten feet, while in Spain, Crete, 

 Sicily, and elsewhere the plant is stated 

 to become a small tree. The stem is joint- 

 ed, of a purplish-red colour, and covered 

 with a glaucous bloom like that of a plum. 

 The leaves are large stalked palmate, deep- 

 ly divided into seven lance-shaped seg- 

 ments ; and at the junction of the blade 

 with the stalk of the leaf is a small saucer- 

 like gland. The flowers are in spikes, the 

 males being placed below, the females 

 above. 



There are several varieties of this plant, 

 differing in sundry slight particulars, and 

 amongst others in the size of the seeds. 

 These latter are oval, flattened, of a grey- 

 ish colour mottled with brownish blotches. 

 At the upper end of the seed is a small 

 sponge-like excrescence. It is stated that 

 the best oil for medicinal purposes is de- 

 rived from the small seeds ; that procured 

 from the large seeds is coarser, and in 

 India employed for lamps and in veterinary 

 practice. A still prevalent error is that 

 the acrid purgative principle resides in 

 the seed-coats and in the embryo only, 

 while the albumen is destitute of it. The. 

 oil is extracted by boiling the seeds and 

 by pressure in an hydraulic press; the 

 latterprocess yields the most esteemed oil. 

 After expression the oil is purified by 

 being allowed to stand, by decan tation, and 

 by filtration. In India the oil, after having 

 been obtained by pressure, is mixed with a 

 certain proportion of water, and boiled till 

 the water has evaporated. In Prance the 

 oil is obtained by macerating the bruised 

 seeds in alcohol, but the process is expen- 

 sive, and the product inferior. The larger 



