Lovely pictures, Satish ji, Here are some extracts from Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil_plant
The *castor oil plant*, *Ricinus communis*, is a plant<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plant> species <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Species> of the Euphorbiaceae<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphorbiaceae>(the evolution of this plant family is relatively unexplored [1] <http://www.igs.umaryland.edu/?q=content/euphorbiaceae-spurge-genomics>) the sole member of the genus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genus> *Ricinus*and of the subtribe <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtribe> Ricininae. Its seed is the castor bean which, despite its name, is not a true bean<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bean> . Castor seed is the source of castor oil<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castor_oil>, which has a wide variety of uses. The seeds contain between 40% and 60% oil that is rich in triglycerides <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triglycerides>, mainly ricinolein <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricinolein>. The seed coat contains ricin <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricin>, a poison<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison>, which is also present in lower concentrations throughout the plant. The toxicity of raw castor beans is well-known, and reports of actual poisoning are relatively rare. Children could conceivably die from as few as three beans; adults may require eight or more. Global castor seed production is around 1 million tons per year. Leading producing areas are India <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India> (with over 60% of the global yield), China <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China> and Brazil <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazil>. There are several active breeding programmes. On Thu, Oct 30, 2008 at 11:59 AM, satish phadke <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>wrote: > Castor plant image taken in Pune 2 days back.It is called as Erand in > Marathi. > In our childhood we used to see a lot of these trees in our area which is > named after this tree as ERAND WAN. > Satish > > -- > > http:// satishphadke.blogspot.com > > > > -- With regards, J.M.Garg "We often ignore the beauty around us" Creating Awareness about Indian Flora & Fauna: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Jmgarg1 For learning about our trees & plants, please visit/ join Google e-group (Indiantreepix) http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "indiantreepix" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.co.in/group/indiantreepix?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
