RICINUS COMMUNIS, Linn.' 



[ Vide Plate XLIII.] 



Description. 



Origin, 



Varietiea, 



Distribution. 



English, castor-oil plant (Palma Christi) ; Veenaculae, arend, rendi, reri, bhatreri; San- 

 scrit, eranda.t 



Natnral order Eup7w7'hiaceos, tribe Crotoneoe. A smooth often glaucous annual or perennial, (in 

 India usually a small tree.) Stems round, smootli, hollow. Petioles long, curved, with a more or 

 less conspicuous stalked gland just below the blade, often a few sessile ones near their bases. Leaves 

 alternate, peltate, glaucous or tinged with red, reddish and shining when young ; deeply 8-10- 

 partite ; lobes ovate lanceolate, acuminate, unequally and coarsely serrate dentate, the serratures 

 often tipped with glands. Stipules enclosing the buds large, ovate, yellowish, deciduous. Flowers 

 paniculate, sub-terminal, monoecious ; male flowers on lower part of floral axis, shortly stalked, 

 pedicles jointed near the middle ; female flowers nearly sessile and crowded at the upper part of 

 the rachis. Bracts broadly triangular, soon withering. Perianth of male flower 3-5-parted ; 

 segments triangular, ovate, acute, reflexed, valvate in aestivation. Stamens numerous, monadel- 

 phous, filaments branched, anther lobes distinct. Perianth segments of female flowers narrow 

 lanceolate, erect, soon withering. Ovary superior, 3-celled, trigonous or sub-globose, shorter than 

 the perianth, its blunt angles armed with soft spine-tipped finger-like prominences. Ovules pen- 

 dulous, one in each cell ; styles 3, connate, each deeply divided into two linear branches, their 

 inner faces bright crimson and papillose. Capsule about an inch long, tricoccous, splitting locu- 

 licidally and septicidally, external prominences persistent, sharp. Seeds about -f-in. long, with 

 a conspicuous caruncle at the hilum end, flattened, smooth, pinkish grey and beautifully mottled 

 with dark brown ; cotyledons leaflike, broadly cordate, veined. 



According to M. Decandollet this plant is a native of Tropical Africa, vi^hence 

 it has spread by commerce and cultivation to Asia and along the coasts of the Medi- 

 terranean. 



The use to which castor oil is generally put in this country is that of lighting, 

 but it is also largely used for lubricating the wearing parts of implements, such as cart 

 axles, (fee. 



Two varieties are reported to be grown in the Azamgarh district, known respec- 

 tively as reri and bhatreri. The former is the taller of the two, and is said to be in- 

 variably cut down after the first year, whilst bhatreri trees are allowed to remain for 

 two or three years. The seeds of the bhatreri variety are reported to be richer in oil 

 than those of the other variety. 



Castor is grown to a greater or less extent in every district of the Provinces, but 

 usually as a field border, and very rarely as a sole crop. The only division indeed in 

 which the area it covers is large enough to deserve mention is Allaliabad, where 

 it is reported to be grown alone on between 1,200 and 1,300 acres, situated principally 

 along the margin of the river Jumna. It is on the other hand a very common border- 



* References :— Roxb. Ind. iii. C89 ; Miill. Arg. in DC Prod. xv. Part ii. 1016 ; Drury Useful PI. of Ind. 365 ; 

 Baden-Powell Punj. Prod. 421 ; Gaz. N.-W. P. Vol. x. 772 ; Bentley and Trim. Med. PI. 237 ; DC, L'Orig. PI. Cult. 339. 

 t Piddington Index 76. 

 X DC. L'Orig. PI. Cult, I.e. 



