The Probert Encyclopaedia of Nature

CASTOR OIL PLANT

The castor oil plant (Ricinus communis) or castor bean is a highly poisonous variable herb, shrub or tree (depending upon climate) of the family Euphorbiaceae, native to India and tropical Africa. It has large, reddish coloured leaves which are long-stalked, alternate and palmate with coarsely toothed segments. Terminating the stems are panicle-like inflorescences of green monoecious flowers, the stalked female flowers above the male flowers below, both without petals. The fruit is a spiny, greenish capsule with large, oval, shiny, bean-like, highly poisonous seeds with variable brownish mottling on a whitish background.
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