संस्कृत नाम- रक्त ऎरण्ड
Botanical name - Ricinus communis
Description - It is a large, sometimes becoming tree-like. Leaves very large, broad, roundish in outline but partly divided into 7 (sometimes 9) lobes, margins toothed. Flowers large, in big terminal bunches. Fruit a prickly capsule, rather marked into six parts. Seeds oblong, seed coat crustaceous. One form of this plant is almost perennial with woody stems and large red seeds. This is said to yield an oil suitable only for illumination and lubrication. The other form, which is grown as an annual crop, has grey and brown mottled seeds; these yield oil suitable for medicinal uses. There is still another form with purple bronze leaves; it is grown only for ornament.
Chemical_Constituents- Plant contains Ricinine. Leaves contain alkaloids ricine and flavanol glycosides. Flowering heads contain coumarins hyperoside and flavonoid rutin, alkaloid ricinine. Seeds yield lectin. Castor oil consists of palmitic, stearic, arachidic, hexadecenoic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, ricinoleic and dihydroxy stearic acids.
Uses - The seeds are poisonous and even 2 or 3 seeds can be fatal. The oil obtained from the seeds, called Castor Oil, is used as a purgative. The Castor Oil is best administered with milk or fruit juice. Castor Oil is also used in ointments as a soothing agent and as an oil vehicle in eye-drops. The use of Castor Oil for facilitating child-birth is doubtful, rather it should be sparingly used even as purgative for pregnant women and during menses. Castor Oil is used in making contraceptive jellies and creams. -- Poultice of leaves applied to boils and sores. Decoction of roots given in lumbago