Flora of North America species comparison

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Ricinus

castor bean, castor oil plant, ricinus
Habit Herbs [shrubs], annual or perennial, monoecious; hairs absent; latex absent.
Leaves

deciduous, alternate, simple;

stipules present, caducous;

petiole present, glands present at apex and usually proximally;

blade palmately lobed, margins serrate, laminar glands present;

venation palmate.
Inflorescences

bisexual (staminate flowers proximal, pistillate distal) or pistillate, terminal or leaf-opposed, racemelike thyrses;

glands subtending each bract 2.
Pedicels

present.
Staminate flowers

sepals 3–5, valvate, connate basally;

petals 0;

nectary absent;

stamens to 1000, connate proximally in numerous slender, irregularly branched columns;

pistillode absent.
Pistillate flowers

sepals 5, distinct or connate basally;

petals 0;

nectary absent;

pistil 3-carpellate;

styles 3, distinct or slightly connate basally, 2-fid.
Fruits

capsules.
Seeds

ovoid or ovoid-ellipsoid;

caruncle present.
x

= 10.

Ricinus
Distribution
from USDA
ne Africa; widely cultivated and often naturalized in tropical; subtropical; and warm temperate regions worldwide [Introduced in North America]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 1.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 160. Author: Lynn J. Gillespie.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae
Subordinate taxa
R. communis
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 1007. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 437. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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(If the plant you're looking for doesn't show up in the auto-complete list, that means it either isn't described in Flora of North America yet, or it's listed under a synonym. And please note that Flora of North America is still missing several plant families, including Apiaceae, Boraginaceae, and Polemoniaceae.)

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