page_title: Ricinus
section_title: Production
hierarchical_section_title: Ricinus / Modern commercial usage / Production
caption_attribution_description: Ricinus communis English: Photographed and uploaded by user:Geographer. Castor Bean in disturbed area in Powder Canyon, en:Puente Hills, California, July 14, 2005.
context_page_description: Ricinus communis, the castor bean or castor oil plant, is a species of perennial flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is the sole species in the monotypic genus, Ricinus, and subtribe, Ricininae. The evolution of castor and its relation to other species are currently being studied using modern genetic tools. It reproduces with a mixed pollination system which favors selfing by geitonogamy but at the same time can be an out-crosser by anemophily or entomophily.
  Its seed is the castor bean, which, despite its name, is not a bean. Castor is indigenous to the southeastern Mediterranean Basin, Eastern Africa, and India, but is widespread throughout tropical regions.
  Castor seed is the source of castor oil, which has a wide variety of uses. The seeds contain between 40% and 60% oil that is rich in triglycerides, mainly ricinolein. The seed also contains ricin, a water-soluble toxin, which is also present in lower concentrations throughout the plant.
  An unrelated plant species of similar appearance, Fatsia japonica, grows in Japan.
caption: Plant in disturbed area
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