Castor

Location in BHU campus:Planted in Ayurvedic and Botanical garden garden .Also can be seen growing wildly .

Botanical name : Ricinus communis L.

Family : Euphorbiaceae

Vernacular / local Name : Bengali-Bheranda; Gujarati-Diveligo; Hindi–Erandi; Kannada–Haralu; Malayalam-Avanakku; Marathi-Erandi; Tamil-Amanakku, kottai muthu; Telugu-Amudamuchettu.

English names : Castor, Castor seed.

A shrub or rarely a small tree up to 5 m high. Leaves palmately lobed into 7-13 oblong to lanceolate lobes, 25-50 cm diameter, serrate; petiole 10-20 cm long. Flowers in terminal subpaniculate racemes with males above and females below; males ca 1 cm across; females ca 1 cm long. Fruit a capsule, 1.5-2 cm long, subglobose to ellipsoid oblong; seeds shining and mottled, 1-1.5 cm long.

Flowering and Fruiting :Almost throughout the year

• Sacred value

In Rajasthan the plant is worshipped by patients suffering from jaundice.

• Uses

Seeds yield castor-oil which is mainly used as lubricant and as purgative. It is also used for transparent soap, typewriter inks, varnishes and paints, phenyls, hair-fixers, perfumes, etc. Seed-cake is used as fertilizer. Paper is made of wood-pulp. Seeds made into paste are applied to sores, boils and rheumatic swellings.