Castor bean - Ricinus communis

Common Name :	Castor bean, Castor oil.
Binomial Name :	Ricinus communis
Family :	Euphorbiaceae
Bangla Name :	Bherenda, Bhenna.
Photo Taken :	Bangladesh

Our today's plant is Castor oil plant, which is also known as Castor bean, hand of Christ, etc. In Bangladesh this is known as Bherenda or Bhenna. This plant plant belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae (known as spurge family). Binomial name of the plant is Ricinus communis. This plant is native to the Eastern Africa and Indian region. Later it spread to all the tropical regions.





Castor bean (Ricinus communis) is an annual plant and can not survive in winter (though winter of Bangladesh is not that much vulnerable for the plant). This plant is native to Asia and later dispersed to tropical region somehow. Leafs of this plant are star shaped and a bit larger in size.





Flowers are inflorescence having yellow in color (male and female are separate). It seems to me the exactly same as onion flower (lot of stamens). Veranda seeds are having plenty of thorns like of stuffs around the surface. This plant is poisonous when ingested, so careful. Also the sap from the plant can cause irritation to skin.





Although the name is Castor bean but it is not a true bean. Rather it is a nut inside the fruit. From the nut we obtain oil which has medicinal use for hair and skin care. That's why it has a name Castor oil plant.


Photos for these Castor bean (Ricinus communis) were taken from Sonargaon of Narayanganj district of Bangladesh. It was during my tour of August 2011. In Bangladesh this plant is known as Bherenda, Verenda (ভেরেন্ডা), Bhenna, Venna (ভেন্না), etc.


This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog https://icflora.blogspot.com/