Ricinus Communis the Miracle Tree Through Four Thousand Years

RICINUS COMMUNIS THE MIRACLE TREE THROUGH FOUR THOUSAND YEARS IRENE JACOB Introduction Studies of ancient plants have usually been placed into their specific ancient agricultural or cultural setting. That is an appropriate way to understand the significance of a plant, but it leaves the student uninformed about later or concurrent developments in the use of a plant in other cultures and different settings. Such studies when done in larger numbers, will show intercultural influences and will also highlight unusual uses. As the castor (Ricinus communis) has been used for more than four thousand years, it is a good candidate for such historical treatment. The medicinal and general uses of this plant will be discussed from ancient times to the present; there are lacunae in this study as there were periods in which the castor was planted and used, but descriptive material must yet be found. Those versed in the Bible know of the castor oil plant from the story of Jonah as he sat outside Nineveh circa 750 B.C. The oil produced from the fruit of the plant is well known to senior citizens whose mothers used this repulsive tasting medicine as a "sovereign remedy". Civilizations have utilized many kinds of vegetable oils. Among the most important oils in ancient times were sesame (Sesamum indicum), safflower (Carthamus tinctorius), colycinth (Citrullus colocynthis), flax (Linum usitatissimum), olive (Olea europaea) and castor bean oil (Ricinus communis). Castor oil has passed through many stages of popularity from ancient times to the machine age. Who would have thought that a product of this plant, which cured baldness and belly-aches, was used to embalm the poor and lit homes in ancient Egypt, could now be transformed into a product that lubricates aircraft and is used in chemotherapy and lipstick. In the 19th century, the German bacteriologist and Noble Prize winner, Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915), based the whole science of serum therapeutics on experiments with the castor bean. Description The term "castor bean" is used commonly to refer to both the plant and 82 IRENE JACOB seed of Ricinus communis L., a member of the Euphorbiaceae or spurge family. Other members of this family include the popular houseplants, poinsettia (E.pulcherrima), and the croton species. Its Latin name Ricinus is a comparison by Linnaeus to the mottled seeds resembling a dog tick. The Chinese character (Pi) compared it to a cattle tick. The Sanskrit name Eranda has passed into several other Indian languages. In Jonah's time it was called Kikayon. Strabo, the Greek historian (64 B.C.-19 A.O.) called it Kild. The name castor was a case of mistaken identity originating in Jamaica, where it grew. Resident Spaniards and Portuguese confused it with a totally different plant, the Vitex agnus castus, and called it "agno casto". From this designation the English, who traded in this oil, coined the word "castor", and so gave rise to the name now applied to it in the English speaking world. The Germans named it "Wunderbaum" (Miracle Tree). They surely recognized its possibilities. The Plant The castor bean is a vigorous, fast-growing annual or perennial from the tropics or sub-tropics, rising to 30-40 feet. When grown as an annual in temperate areas with frost kill, it only reaches 6-12 feet. Soil condition, moisture and breeding may cause much variation in height. Castor beans have, besides a tap root, prominent lateral roots just a few inches below the surface. Stems and branches are often red to purple. The large (1-3 foot) alternate, palmately, 5-11 lobed leaves are borne on long, strong leaf stems. The flowers are borne along stiff, upright spikes, 6 inches to 2 feet long, and are without petals. Female flowers on top are greenish with bright-red stigmas; male flowers below are greenish-yellow. The three lobed, spiny, 1-inch bur-like fruit capsules contain three oval seeds. The colorful seeds vary from all black to red, white, yellow, and mottled gray. The oil content averages 50%. Seeds of cultivated varieties can reach 3,000 pounds per acre. The taste of the seed is nutlike. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Castor oil is a tree oil. Tree oils, which generally grow in tropical or subtropical climates may take several years after planting before becoming productive. In 1983 they accounted for 19% of the world's oil output. 1 Other major tree oils are: African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis), coconut (Cocus nucifera), olive (Olea europea), tung (Aleuritesfordii and Aleurites montana), Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum) and oiticica (Licania rigida). 1 H. O. Doty Jr., "Oil Seed Production", Economic Botany (New York, 1983) p. 437. .

Load more