• Family : EUPHORBIACEAE
  (Spurge Family)
• Family (Hindi name) : AMLA FAMILY (आँवला फैमिली)
• Family (as per The APG System III) : EUPHORBIACEAE
• Species Name (as per The Plant List) : Ricinus communis L.
• Common name : Castor Plant, Castorbean, Krapata, Palma christi, Ricin
• Vernacular name : Aerandi (Hindi); Oudala, Haralu, Manda (Kannada); Aamanakku, Kottaimuthu (Tamil); Aeradand (Sanskrit); Erand (Marathi); Erand, Jada, Gab (Oria); Amudamu chettu (Telugu); amandam, Aavannakku, Chittavanakku, Erandam, Gandharvahastakam, Kottamaram (Malayalam)
• Habit : Shrub
• Comments / notes : Cultivated, also runs wild. Occasional on plains to hills up to 1400m. Often seen growing in wastelands and around villages. Also planted for its seed oil which is the commercial source of Castor.
• Flower, Fruit : Throughout the year
• Distribution :
  • Kerala : All districts of Kerala
  • Maharashtra : Akola district
• Native : Tropical Africa
• World Distribution : Cultivated Throughout tropics
• Conservation Status : Not Evaluated (NE)
• Literature : H.O. Saxena & M. Brahmam, 1995- Flora of Orissa Vol. 3; R. S. Rao et al., 1986 - Flora of West Godavari District; R. S. Rao and S. H. Sreeramulu, 1986 - Flora of Srikakulam District; H. O. Saxena and M. Brahmam, 1989 - The Flora of Similipahar (Similipal), Orissa; Matthew, K.M., The Flora of Tamil Nadu Carnatic, Vol.3 (2). Diocesan Press, Madras. 1983; Sasidharan, N. 2011. Flowering plants of Kerala. DVD, V 2, KFRI.
• Citation : Sankara Rao, K., Raja K Swamy, Deepak Kumar, Arun Singh R. and K. Gopalakrishna Bhat (2019). Flora of Peninsular India. http://peninsula.ces.iisc.ac.in/plants.php?name=Ricinus communis. Downloaded on 21 November 2024.

Botanical Description

Herbarium Specimen(s)

Field Image(s)