Archan Bhatacharya

Department of Botany A.P.C. Roy Govt. College, Matigara, Himachal Vihar, Siliguri-734010 Darjeeling (W.B.) (India)

ABSTRACT

The castor oil plant, Ricinus communis Linn. is the sole member of the genus Ricinus and of the subtribe Ricininae (Tribe: Acalypheae, Family: Euphorbiaceae). In our country it is seen in fields, native gardens, village thickets, roadsides, railroads, waste ground and other disturbed sites. Its seed is the source of castor oil and ricin, a poison. The name Ricinus is a Latin word for tick; the seed is so named because it has markings and a bump at the end which resembles certain ticks. The common name “castor oil” likely comes from its use as a replacement for castoreum, a perfume base made from the dried perineal glands of the beaver (Castor in Latin). It has another common name, palm of christ, or palma christi, that derives from castor oil’s ability to heal wounds and cure ailments. The Indian vernacular names of the species are bherenda (Bengali), gab (Oriya), eradom (Santhali), arandi (Hindi) and erand (Marathi).

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