Ricinus communis - Eranda - ആവണക്ക്

Botanical Name :

Ricinus communis Linn.

Family :

Euphorbiaceae

Vernacular Names :

Malayalam : Aavannakk - ആവണക്ക്
English : Castor oil plant 
Sanskrit : Eranda, Panchangula, Vatari, Deergha danda, Gandharvahasta, Tharuna, 
                 Vardhamana, Rubkam, Kumbhee
Hindi : Erandi, Erand, Arandi 

Bengali : Erando, Veranda, Bherendaa

Tamil : Aamanakku - ஆமணக்கு

Gujarathi : Divel, Erandiyo

Kannada : Haralenne

Telugu : Aavadam, Aamudalu, Era mudappu, Amun muchattu

Marathi : Errand

Assamese : Era - gach

Oriya : Jada
Arabic : Khirwa -  خروع  

Plant Description : 

The castor oil plant can vary greatly in its growth habit and appearance. 

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 perennial shrub which can reach the size of a small tree (around 12 metres / 39 feet), but it is not cold hardy.

The glossy leaves are 15–45 centimetres (5.9–18 in) long, long-stalked, alternate and palmate with 5–12 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 colour 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. Plants with the dark leaves can be found growing next to those with green leaves, so there probably is only a single gene controlling the production of the pigment in some varieties at least. The stems (and the spherical, spiny seed capsules) also vary in pigmentation. The fruit capsules of some varieties are more showy than the flowers.

The flowers are borne in terminal panicle-like inflorescences of green or, in some varieties, shades of red monoecious flowers without petals. The male flowers are yellowish-green with prominent creamy stamens and are carried in ovoid spikes up to 15 centimetres (5.9 in) long; the female flowers, born at the tips of the spikes, have prominent red stigmas.

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).

Chemical Composition :  

Fatty oil, Protein, Lectins, Others ricin D (RCA-60. severely toxic), RCA-120 (less toxic), Pyridine alkaloids, Triglycerides: chief fatty acids ricinoleic acid (12-hydroxy-oleic acid, share 85-90%), Tocopherols (Vitamin E). 

Rasaadhi Gunaas :

Rasa : Madhuram, Katu, Kashayam

Guna : Guru, Snigdham, Theekshnnam, Sookshmam

Veeryam : Ushnnam

Vipakam : Madhuram

Useful Parts :

Root

Leaf

Seed

Oil 

Indications :

01. Vata hara
02. A mild laxative
03. Jaundice
04. Abdominal discomfort
05. Constipation
06. Inflammation
07. Fever
08. Ascites
09. Bronchitis
10. Cough
11. Leprosy
12. Skin diseases
13. Shukla shodhaneeyam
14. Reduces Oedema and Pain
15. Purifies Uterus
16. Dheepanam
17. Bhedhanam
18. Krimi hara
19. Medhyam
20. Moothra shodhaneeyam