Ricinus L.

1 species naturalized Aust.; all states and territories except Tas.

*Ricinus communis L.

Tall, branching, weak, monoecious shrub with a rank odour. Leaves spirally arranged, 10–60 cm diam., palmately veined, peltate, divided into 5–9 palmate serrate lobes; petioles long; stipules absent. Flowers in loose racemes on thick peduncles, the upper ones female. Male flowers with numerous stamens; filaments connate, branching. Female flowers: ovary 3-locular; styles 3, red, 2-fid. Fruit dry, 15 mm long, ovoid, spiny. Seeds carunculate, mottled. Coast and adjacent plateaus; Cumberland Plain. Waste ground. Introd. from Asia or Africa. Fl. summer. Castor Oil Plant