Species
+

Ricinus communis L.

Carpata, Castor, Castor Bean (EN); Tartago (ES), Castor Oil

Climate known 57 photographs
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

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.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ricinus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Ricinus

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.

Text from Wikipedia, “Ricinus”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia
Wild records
4 in range· 2 open

At a glance

Warmest month
27°C
May, mean day; nights 20 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1184mm/yr
9 wet months · peak Jun 164 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1184 mm a year, wettest June at 164 mm, driest January at 19 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 18.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as ? aegyptiaceus Popova; ? armatus Andr.; Cataputia major Ludw.; Cataputia minor Ludw.; Croton spinosus L. and 45 more.

Cultivation

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (1.8 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (919 mm of 1184 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 1.8 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere, within 10° of the equator; with no thermal season there there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1184 mm a year, wettest June at 164 mm, driest January at 19 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1184 mm a year at the habitat, 919 mm of it May to October. Wettest month June at 164 mm, driest January at 19 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 362 mm to 2060 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 28, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 18.9 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 18.9 °C, the absolute minimum 16.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 18.6 °C in November (across the envelope cells 13.6 °C to 24.1 °C), warmest day 27.3 °C in May (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 18.9 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 53 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Dec to 27 °C in May; mean night from 19 °C in Nov to 21 °C in Mar. The cold quarter, Oct to Dec, is the three months around the coldest night. 1184 mm of rain a year, most in Jun. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 4 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 16.3 °C and the 99th-percentile day 42.7 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°45°42.7° 99th-percentile day (undated)16.3° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250300mm rainDLI 30–40RH 53–64 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 4 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–3327 / 25–3527 / 26–3527 / 26–3327 / 24–3227 / 23–3126 / 22–3127 / 23–3127 / 23–3126 / 24–3126 / 25–3126 / 25–32
Night °C19 / 14–2420 / 15–2421 / 15–2521 / 15–2620 / 15–2720 / 15–2719 / 15–2719 / 15–2619 / 14–2719 / 14–2619 / 14–2419 / 14–24
Rain mm19 / 7–5622 / 7–6366 / 16–15791 / 28–274162 / 42–285164 / 48–198156 / 46–231164 / 56–226159 / 43–231114 / 36–24547 / 15–13220 / 8–65
DLI35 / 33–3738 / 36–4040 / 39–4139 / 38–4336 / 34–4031 / 30–3430 / 28–3432 / 31–3735 / 34–3736 / 35–3937 / 34–3734 / 33–36
RH %53 / 46–5953 / 45–6056 / 48–6361 / 54–6464 / 57–6562 / 58–6660 / 58–6661 / 58–6563 / 57–6761 / 57–6358 / 55–6055 / 51–60

Each figure is the median across the 4 grid cells holding the 4 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1635:4291 (8.225, 34.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 16.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 18.9 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 4 distinct grid cells holding the 4 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1635:4291 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 8.00_34.375, lapse-corrected -10 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 454 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeEritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia· introduced: Great Britain, Germany, France, Portugal, Spain, Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Romania, Sicilia, Central European Russia, South European Russia, Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Azores, Canary Is., Madeira, Selvagens, Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Rwanda, Zaïre, Chad, Djibouti, Socotra, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Lesotho, Namibia, KwaZulu-Natal, Swaziland, Northern Provinces, Ascension, St.Helena, Chagos Archipelago, Comoros, Mozambique Channel Is., Madagascar, Tadzhikistan, East Aegean Is., Iran, Lebanon-Syria, Palestine, Gulf States, Oman, China South-Central, Hainan, China North-Central, China Southeast, Tibet, Korea, Kazan-retto, Ogasawara-shoto, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Maldives, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, West Himalaya, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Myanmar, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Cocos (Keeling) I., Sulawesi, Christmas I., Bismarck Archipelago, Norfolk Is., New South Wales, Queensland, Kermadec Is., New Zealand North, Fiji, Gilbert Is., Nauru, Niue, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Cook Is., Easter Is., Marquesas, Pitcairn Is., Society Is., Tuamotu, Tubuai Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Marshall Is., Wake I., Hawaii, Illinois, Missouri, New York, Arizona, California, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Tennessee, Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, C. American Pacific Is., El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Aruba, Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Netherlands Antilles, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Windward Is., Venezuela, Colombia, Galápagos, Brazil West-Central, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Chile Central, Chile North, Juan Fernández Is., Paraguay, Uruguay
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker7.65, 36.8 · in the densest population, 3 records (75% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 4 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 2 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 1691 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. Under a dozen records: treat the map and the climate as indicative.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 4 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Ricinus communisRicinus communisRicinus communisRicinus communisRicinus communisRicinus communisRicinus communisRicinus communis

Photographs: (c) Meng-Chi Hung, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) zebedeugalinha, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Nicolás Villaseca Merino, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA) (2); (c) Juanvi, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Tony Rebelo, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA); (c) Juan Rafael Rodríguez Razgado, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Patrícia Mees, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Ricinus communis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

Specificity of Twelve Lectins Towards Oligosaccharides and Glycopeptides Related to N‐Glycosylproteins
Henri Debray, Dominique DECOUT, Gérard Strecker, Geneviève Spik (1981) · European Journal of Biochemistry
Phytochemical analysis of some medicinal plants
Rasana Yadav, Munin Agarwala (2011) · DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals)
Vascular endothelial–cadherin is an important determinant of microvascular integrity in vivo
Monica Corada, Massimo Mariotti, Gavin Thurston, Kelly D. Smith (1999) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Bone marrow contributes to renal parenchymal turnover and regeneration
Richard Poulsom, Stuart J. Forbes, Kairbaan Hodivala‐Dilke, Eoin G. Ryan (2001) · The Journal of Pathology
Ricin Poisoning
Jennifer Audi, Martin Belson, Manish M. Patel, Joshua G. Schier (2005) · JAMA
Synthesis of Neoglycopolymers by a Combination of “Click Chemistry” and Living Radical Polymerization
Vincent Ladmiral, Giuseppe Mantovani, Guy J. Clarkson, Solène I. Cauët (2006) · Journal of the American Chemical Society
Draft genome sequence of the oilseed species Ricinus communis
Agnes P. Chan, Jonathan Crabtree, Qi Zhao, Hernán Lorenzi (2010) · Nature Biotechnology
The interaction of Ricinus communis agglutinin with normal and tumor cell surfaces
Garth L. Nicolson, John Blaustein (1972) · Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Biomembranes
Ultrastructural localization of lectin-binding sites on the zonae pellucidae and plasma membranes of mammalian eggs.
Garth L. Nicolson, Ryuzo Yanagimachi, Hiroko Yanagimachi (1975) · The Journal of Cell Biology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 118 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.