Editing Ricinus (section)

==Description==
''Ricinus communis'' can vary greatly in its growth habit and appearance. The variability has been increased by breeders who have selected a range of cultivars for leaf and flower colours, and for oil production. It is a fast-growing, [[Basal shoot|suckering]] [[shrub]] that can reach the size of a small tree, around {{convert|12|m|ft|abbr=off}}, but it is not [[Hardiness (plants)|cold hardy]].

The glossy [[Leaf|leaves]] are {{convert|15|–|45|cm|in|abbr=off|0}} long, long-stalked, alternate and palmate with five to twelve deep lobes with coarsely toothed segments. In some varieties they start off dark reddish purple or bronze when young, gradually changing to a dark green, sometimes with a reddish tinge, as they mature. The leaves of some other varieties are green practically from the beginning, whereas in yet others a pigment masks the green color of all the [[chlorophyll]]-bearing parts, leaves, stems and young fruit, so that they remain a dramatic purple-to-reddish-brown throughout the life of the plant. Plants with the dark leaves can be found growing next to those with green leaves, so there is most likely only a single gene controlling the production of the pigment in some varieties.<ref>e.g. {{cite web |url=http://database.prota.org/publishedspeciesEn.htm |title=PROTA published species |access-date=2010-04-21 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100504125220/http://database.prota.org/publishedspeciesEn.htm |archive-date=4 May 2010 }}</ref> The stems and the spherical, spiny seed capsules also vary in pigmentation. The fruit capsules of some varieties are more showy than the flowers.

The flowers lack petals and are unisexual (male and female) where both types are borne on the same plant ([[Plant sexuality#Individual plant sexuality|monoecious]]) in terminal [[panicle]]-like [[inflorescence]]s of green or, in some varieties, shades of red. The male flowers are numerous, yellowish-green with prominent creamy [[stamen]]s; the female flowers, borne at the tips of the spikes, lie within the immature spiny capsules, are relatively few in number and have prominent red [[stigma (flower)|stigmas]].<ref name="Brickell">{{cite book |editor=Christopher Brickell |title=The Royal Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants |year=1996 |pages=884–885 |publisher=[[Dorling Kindersley]] |location=London |isbn=978-0-7513-0303-2}}</ref>

The fruit is a spiny, greenish (to reddish-purple) [[Capsule (botany)|capsule]] containing large, oval, shiny, bean-like, highly poisonous seeds with variable brownish mottling. Castor seeds have a warty appendage called the [[Elaiosome|caruncle]], which is a type of [[elaiosome]]. The caruncle promotes the dispersal of the seed by ants (myrmecochory).

{{gallery|mode=packed
|Ricin commun.jpg|Young plant
|Ricinus communis DSC 0022.JPG|Green variant after blooming, with developing seed capsules
|Leaf of Castor bean plant.jpg|Leaf
|Ricinus communis (male) - Flickr - Kevin Thiele.jpg|Male flower
|Pollen Ricinus communis sanguineus.jpg|Pollen grains of ''Ricinus communis''
|Ricinus communis (female) - Flickr - Kevin Thiele.jpg|Female flower
|Castor oil plant seeds.jpg|The green capsule dries and splits into three sections, forcibly ejecting seeds
|Seeds of Ricinus communis.jpg|Seeds
|Castor bean young with teething leaves.jpg|[[Cotyledons]] (round) and first true leaves (serrated) on a young plant (about four weeks old)
}}

=== Chemistry ===
Three [[terpenoid]]s and a [[tocopherol]]-related compound have been found in the aerial parts of ''Ricinus''. Compounds named (3''E'',7''Z'',11''E'')-19-hydroxycasba-3,7,11-trien-5-one, 6α-hydroxy-10β-methoxy-7α,8α-epoxy-5-oxocasbane-20,10-olide, 15α-hydroxylup-20(29)-en-3-one, and (2''R'',4a''R'',8a''R'')-3,4,4a,8a-tetrahydro-4a-hydroxy-2,6,7,8a-tetramethyl-2-(4,8, 12-trimethyltridecyl)-2''H''-chromene-5,8-dione were isolated from the methanol extracts of ''Ricinus communis'' by chromatographic methods.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Tan Q.-G. |author2=Cai X.-H. |author3=Dua Z.-Z. |author4=Luo X.-D. |year=2009 |title=Three terpenoids and a tocopherol-related compound from ''Ricinus communis'' |journal=[[Helvetica Chimica Acta]] |volume=92 |issue=12 |pages=2762–8 |doi=10.1002/hlca.200900105}}</ref>
Partitioned h-hexane fraction of ''Ricinus'' root methanol extract resulted in enrichment of two triterpenes: lupeol and urs-6-ene-3,16-dione (erandone). Crude methanolic extract, enriched n-hexane fraction and isolates at doses 100&nbsp;mg/kg p.o. exhibited significant (P < 0.001) anti-inflammatory activity in carrageenan-induced hind paw oedema model.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Srivastava |first1=Pooja |last2=Jyotshna |last3=Gupta |first3=Namita |last4=Kumar Maurya |first4=Anil |last5=Shanker |first5=Karuna |year=2013 |title=New anti-inflammatory triterpene from the root of Ricinus communis |journal=Natural Product Research |volume=28 |issue=5 |pages=306–311 |doi=10.1080/14786419.2013.861834 |pmid=24279342 |s2cid=36797216}}</ref>