Ricinus Communis

Jun, Jul, Aug

Shrub, Tree, Annual, Poisonous, Shrub.

flowers small and whitish, Male flowers:pedicels 0.5–1.7 cm. long; calyx-lobes ovate, 5–8 mm. long, (2–)3–5 mm. wide, acute, pale green, often tinged reddish or purplish; stamens 7–8 mm. long, anthers 0.5 mm. long, pale yellow. Female flowers:pedicels 0.5–1 cm. long, extending to 2–4.5 cm. in fruit; sepals narrowly lanceolate, ± 5 mm. long, acutely acuminate, often reddish or purplish tinged; ovary trilobate-subglobose, 2 mm. long and wide; styles 2–5 mm. long, ± one-third bifid to almost completely bipartite, usually red, rarely yellowish.

Large, red, prickly capsule with slightly flattened seeds which are mottled brown-gray-white, Fruit strongly trilobate, 1–1.8 cm. long, 1–1.5 cm. diameter, sparingly, evenly or densely beset with narrowly cylindric fleshy processes 3–5 mm. long, each tipped with a sharp curved bristle, bluish green, often tinged reddish or purplish.