Ricinus sp.  

Scientific classification : Kingdom: Plantae

Order: Malpighiales
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Genus: Ricinus

: Distribution  .: Saudia  Arabia : Riyadh , 25 - ii - 1981 , Chaudhary s.n. ( RIY ) ; Towais , 24 - ii - 1983 , S. Abedin & M.A Al - Yahya 10471 ( KSUP ) ; Wadis Fatimah , Jamjum , 1 - iii - 1983 , S. Abedin & M.A. Al - Yahya 10613 ( KSUP ) ; Abha , 10 - i - 1988 , S. Abedin , M.A. Al Yahya & M.S. Al - Said 11730 , 11752 , 11755 , 11757 ( KSUP ) ; Riyadh - Wadi Hanifa , 12 - iv - 1992 , S. Abedin , M.A. Al - Yahya & Adnan 12810 ( KSUP ) ; Qasim , 30 - iii - 1995 , S. Abedin & M.S. Al - said 13199 ( KSUP ) .

: Habit : 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, suckering shrub that can reach the size of a small tree, around 12 m (39 ft), but it is not cold hardy today it is widespread throughout tropical regions.[5] In areas with a suitable climate, castor establishes itself easily where it can become an invasive plant  Itis also used extensively as a decorative plant in parks and other public areas and  often be found on wasteland

 : Leaves : The glossy leaves are 15–45 cm (6–18 in) 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 start, 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

Flowers :The flowers lack petals and are unisexual (male and female) where both types are borne on the same plant (monoecious) in terminal panicle-like inflorescences of green or, in some varieties, shades of red. The male flowers are numerous, yellowish-green with prominent creamy stamens; 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 stigmas

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

مرام تاج الدين 

Economic importance : Medicinal uses : An alcoholic extract of the leaf was shown, in laboratory rats, to protect the liver from damage from certain poisons - and it has been investigated in a few limited studies for its potential as an anti-nociceptive and anti-inflammatory herbal medicine

Other uses : exhibited acaricidal and insecticidal activities against the adult of Haemaphysalis bispinosa (Acarina: Ixodidae) and hematophagous fly Hippobosca maculata (Diptera: Hippoboscidae) -  an effective motor lubricant and has been used in internal combustion engines, including those of World War I airplanes