RICINUS COMMUNIS— PALMA-CHRISTI, OR CASTOR OIL PLANT. 
Class XXL MONCECIA.— Order VIII. M ONADELPH I A. 
Natural Order, EUPHORBIACEHL — THE EUPHORBIUM TRIBE. 
Fig (a) represents an anther; (6) & female flower, with the prickles removed, showing the calyx, and the insertion of the stamens ; 
(c) a prickle, (d) the capsule, (e) the back view of the seed, (d) the side view of a seed. 
' The Castor-oil plant, from' the seeds of which the oil is obtained, grows spontaneously in many tropical 
| districts. In our gardens it is well known as a tall annual plant : it is found native in almost every part of 
l the East and West Indies, South America, and China. In Africa, the Palma- Christi, which seldom rises 
more than four or five feet high in England, attains the size of a considerable tree. Clusius observed it in 
Spain, with a trunk as large as a man’s body, and fifteen or twenty feet high. Ray asserts, that in Sicily it 
is as large as the common elder-tree, woody, and perennial. Willdenow, however, expressly says, “Planta 
semper annua, nunquam fruticosa vel arborea, nec in calidissimis terrse plagis lignescit.” 
The root is thick, whitish, and furnished with many slender fibres. The stem, as we have already 
observed, varies in height ; it is round, thick, jointed, smooth, of a purplish red colour towards the top, 
and glaucous at the lower part. The leaves are on long tapering purplish footstalks, large, subpeltate, and 
deeply divided into seven acute, serrated, lanceolate lobes, of a blueish green colour. The flowers are in 
long, green, glaucous spikes of a blueish green colour, springing from the divisions of the branches, and 
appear in August and September ; the males occupy the lower part of the spike, the females the upper. 
The male flower is destitute of a corolla, and consists of a calyx divided into five oval, pointed, purplish 
segments, inclosing several long stamens united at the base ; the female flower is composed of a calyx cut 
into three narrow segments of a reddish colour ; the styles are three, slender, and forked at the apex. The 
capsule is trilocular, covered with rough spines, and hursts elastically to expel the seeds ; the seeds are 
usually three, of an oblong flat figure, and greyish colour, with brownish red streaks. 
The scientific name Ricinus, is said to have been bestowed on the present genus, from the fancied re- 
semblance of its seeds to the small apterous insect called a tick, ricinus ; and this, according to Ainsworth, 
is compounded of res and cams, because the tick or tyke, is particularly troublesome to dogs. It is gene- 
rally regarded as the K«< or K poruv of Dioscorides, who observes, that the seeds are powerfully cathartic. It 
is likewise mentioned by Aetius, Paulus ^Egineta, Pliny, and other ancient authors ; hence this species of 
Ricinus appears to have been known at a very early period ; and we are informed by Turner in his Herbal, 
that it was cultivated in England in 1562. 
Dierbach informs us, that the plant was known to Hippocrates under the name Kporav; and Dr. Ainslie 
says, the castor-oil plant grows in great abundance in almost every part of India. It is one of but few 
examples of an expressed oil possessing medicinal activity. The London College order the oil to be obtained 
by expression, a method, which according to Mr. Long in his History of Jamaica, is employed there, when 
it is intended for medical use. The expressed oil is, however, more acrimonious, and less pure, than that 
which is imported from the West Indies, which is obtained in the following manner : — “The seeds being 
freed from the husks, which are gathered upon their turning brown, and when beginning to burst open, 
are first bruised in a mortar, afterwards tied up in a linen bag, and then thrown into a large pot, with a 
sufficient quantity of water, and boiled till the oil has risen to the surface, when it is carefully skimmed 
off, strained, and kept for use.” 
The oil obtained by coction, has, however, the disadvantage of becoming rancid, sooner than that 
procured by expression. The seeds yield about one-fourth of their weight in oil. 
Qualities and Chemical Properties. — Castor oil is of a pale yellow colour, is transparent, 
viscid, and has little taste or smell. It leaves, however, a slight burning in the throat, after it has been 
swallowed. That obtained by boiling, becomes rancid much sooner than that procured by expression. It 
is often adulterated, says Dr. Thomson, with olive oil, linseed oil, and poppy oil, which may he readily 
detected by adding an equal quantity of alcohol, sp. gr. 820 to any given quantity of the suspected oil ; if 
it be pure, a uniform solution will take place, which will not happen if it be adulterated : and the same will 
be the case if a weaker spirit be employed, by the addition of camphor. Excepting that it is soluble in 
alcohol, it has all the characters of other expressed oils. Boiled in nitric acid, it is converted into a sort of 
wax, which melts too readily to he used for making candles. 
Poisonous Effects. — Three drams of the seeds of Palma Christi, deprived of their ligneous envelope, 
were introduced into the stomach of a dog of middle size; and the oesophagus was tied. The next day he 
showed no remarkable symptoms. The day following, at eight o’clock in the morning, he experienced very 
