Ricinus Oleum, Castor Oil

Cataputia; Arand (Unani)
Dan Khra དན་ཁྲ  (Tibetan)

New Kreüterbuch, Matthiolus, 1563

Atlas der officinellen pflanzen (2), Felix, 1899

Atlas des plantes de jardins, Klincksieck, 1896

Castor leaves (above) and Seed pods (right) (Adam, 2017)

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Botanical name: Ricinus communis Parts used: Expressed Oil Temperature & Taste: Neutral, moist. Pungent and Sweet Classifications: E. Laxatives, Purgatives and Cathartics

Castor seed Parkinson, Theatrum Botanicum, 1640

Uses:

1. Moistens the Intestines, Promotes Stool:
-acute constipation, especially in the weak, aged or young. (taken internally, or as an enema)
-given in acute diarrhea, especially when caused by food poisoning;
-Jaundice, Edema etc.

2. Clears Phlegm:
-has been used as an expectorant.

3. Kills Worms:
-Worms, especially Tapeworm.

4. Used in Pharmacy:
-the Oil is an excellent solvent for Alkaloids (Atropine, Cocaine etc) for use in eye surgery, such as in the removal of foreign bodies from the eyes etc.;
-it can also be used as a base in ointments or oils.
   
5. Externally:
-externally for various skin complaints, such as Ringworm, Itch, Moles, Warts.
-internally and externally for swollen lymph nodes and all hard inflammations
-externally, it can ease pain and inflammation, stimulate the Liver and other glands, enhance thyroid function, and clear toxins.
-diluted Oil may be dropped into the eye to soothe inflammation and irritation
-Oil is applied to prevent falling of the hair, and promote hair growth.
-Massaged onto the breasts of nursing mothers to stimulate Milk.
-used to promote Labor; many midwives still recommend this today, often with Orange juice.
-The oil may be applied to conjunctivitis.

Dose:

COLD PRESSED OIL: 3–12 mls for children; 15–30 mls, and up to 60 mls for an adult. In India 30–60 grams of the Oil is taken with 250 mls of lukewarm milk. For a baby under 1 year old: 0.5–1 teaspoonful; 2 years old: 1–2 teaspoonfuls; 3 years old: 1 dessertspoonful; 5 years old: 0.5–1 tablespoonful (This is for convulsions or constipation etc)

Substitute:

Other oils have been substituted including Olive

Main Combinations:

1. Enema for Worms, Castor oil (3 oz.), Decoction of Linseed (4 oz.). (Picettario Clinico, Padua, 1825)

Major Formulas:

Pills of Castor and Bdellium (Vatari Guggulu) (Ayurveda)

Cautions:

Use cautiously during pregnancy and avoid large doses.

Main Preparations used:

Expressed Oil, Purgative Emulsion, Purgative Potion

1. Purgative Emulsion:
i. Castor oil, Emulsion of Bitter Almonds, Broth (2 oz. each). Mix, taken in spoonfuls.
ii. Castor oil (2 oz.), Almond Oil (1 ½ oz.), Emulsion of Gum Arabic (4 oz.). Mix. (Picettario Clinico, Padua, 1825)
iii. Castor oil (3 oz.), Mucilage of Gum Arabic (2 drams), Mint Water (8 oz.). Mix. Dose: 2 spoonfuls every half hour. (Pharmacopoeia extemporanea, Augustin, 1822)
iv. Castor oil (1 oz.), Gum Arabic (1 dram), Syrup of Marshmallows (half oz.), Elder flower water (1 ½ oz.)

2. Purgative Potion:
i. Castor oil (2 oz.), Syrup of Lemon (1 oz.). Mix. (Ratier)
ii. Castor oil, Syrup of Orange peel (equal parts)
iii. Castor oil (1 oz.), Simple Syrup (1 oz.), Gum Arabic (2 drams). Water (4 oz.). Mix (Ratier)

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• Extra Info
  
• History
  

‘The Castor plant is called in Sanskrit Eranda, Ruvu, Ruvuka and Uruvuka, and the red variety Raktairanda; the root and the oil obtained from the seeds have been used medicinally by the Hindus from a very remote period, and are mentioned by Susruta. Both root and oil are described as purgative and useful in costiveness, flatulence, rheumatism, fever and inflammatory affections; on account of its efficacy in rheumatism the plant bears the synonym of Vatari (vata-ari). As a purgative the oil is directed to be taken with cow’s urine or an infusion of ginger or the decoction of the ten roots known as dasamula (see Vol. I., p. 243). The seeds freed from the husks and germs, and boiled in milk and water, form a decoction which is given in rheumatism; a decoction of the root with carbonate of potash is also prescribed, and most compound medicines given in rheumatic and neuralgic affections contain the root. The leaves are applied to the breast to stop the secretion of milk, and, boiled with the root in goat’s milk and water, they are used as a local application in ophthalmia. When applied to the abdomen they are popularly thought to promote the menstrual flow; in Govardhana (203), the halikaradhu, or “peasant woman,” is represented as lying in pain upon the leaves of the Eranda. In the proverbial language of the Indians the Castor plant is emblematic of frailty; they say :— Naukri arand ki jar hai (service is like the root of the Castor plant). The Arabs appear to have first become acquainted with the tree in India, as they call the seeds Simsim-el-hindi, “Indian Sesamum,” and the plant Khirvaa, a word which signifies any weak or frail plant; the properties they attribute to it are also those mentioned by Sanskrit writers. Again, in the Saptasataka of Hala, we find the large and swelling breasts of the peasant girl likened to the Eranda leaf, and in Arabic we have the expression [?] applied to a beautiful and tender girl. R. communis is the Bidanjir and Kinnatu of the Persians; it also bears various local names, such as Gerchak in the Shahpur District, and Buzanjir, “goat’s fig,” in Khorasan. Aitchison notices its cultivation round the borders of fields in the latter province, and in the Harirud District, for the sake of the oil which is used as a lamp oil, and says that the peasantry are unacquainted with its purgative properties. The plant was cultivated in Southern Europe at a very early date; it is the [?] of Herodotus, the [?] of Theophrastus (H.P .i.,16; CP. ii.), and the [?] or [?] of Dioscorides (iv., 15b), who observes that the name [?] is given to the seed on account of its resemblance to an insect known by that name (Ixodes Ricinus, Latr.). He also notices Castor oil and its medicinal use. It is the Ricinus or Cicus of Pliny (15,7), “a tree which grows in Egypt in great abundance ;by some it is known as croton, by others as sili, and by others, again, as wild sesamum: it i not so very long since this tree was first introduced here. Eaten with food the oil is repulsive, but it is very useful for burning in lamps.” The Jews and Abyssinian Christians say that it was under this tree that Jonah sat, but in the English version the Hebrew word “Kikajon” is translated “gourd.” For a history of the plant in Europe, the Pharmacographia may be consulted. Mahometan medical writers describe two kinds, red and white: the red is said to be the most active. They consider the oil a powerful resolvent and purgative of cold humors, and prescribe it in palsy, asthma, colds, colic, flatulence, rheumatism, dropsy and amenorrhoea; of the seeds, 10 kernels rubbed down with honey are sufficient as a purge. A poultice of the crushed seeds is used to reduce gouty and rheumatic swellings, and inflammation of the breasts of women during lactation. The leaves have similar properties, but in a less degree. The fresh juice is used as an emetic in poisoning by opium and other narcotics; made into a poultice with barley meal it is applied to inflammatory affections of the eye. The root-bark is used as a purgative and alterative in chronic enlargements and skin diseases; it is also applied externally. In modern medicine Castor oil is much valued as a non-irritant purgative; a drop is sometimes dropped into the eye to allay irritation, and, strange to say, the leaves are applied locally in Europe to promote the secretion of milk, whereas in India the native practice of applying them to stop the secretion of milk is recognised in the Government hospitals under European superintendence. A fluid extract of the leaves has also been recommended in Europe as a lactagogue. As a purgative the oil is best administered in the early morning on an empty stomach, when about one drachm will usually be found sufficient, at other times at least half an ounce will be required. Various fluids have been recommended to conceal the taste of the oil, such as brandy, peppermint water, &c, but the decoction of fresh ginger, as used in

India, is, we think, the best vehicle. The above remarks apply to cold drawn oil; the bazar oil extracted by boiling is more active, and, as it is not always carefully prepared, it may contain the acrid principle of the seed and give rise to disagreeable symptoms. The alleged antirheumatic properties of the plant so insisted upon by Hindu and Mahometan physicians are worthy of being tested by careful clinical observation. M. H. Meyer (Pharm. Zeitsch. f. Russland, xxx., p. 282, 1891), in order to decide the question as to the purgative properties of ricinoleic acid, prepared that substance perfectly pure, also its glyceride, and ricinelaidic acid. All these preparations were administered to cats, and acted as purgatives. The author concludes that there is no reason to suppose that Castor oil contains any purgative principle other than ricinoleic acid. Dr. H. Stillmark has discovered in the seeds an albuminoid body which he has named “Ricin.” This, however, does not appear to be the purgative principle. Its action, whether given by the mouth or hypodermically, is to produce hemorrhagic inflammation of the gastro-intestinal tract, affecting primarily the small intestines, and probably obstructing the bile duct, since there is usually extreme fullness of the gall bladder; the inflammation also extends to the vesical mucous membrane. Diarrhoea is by no means constant. The drowsiness and convulsions which occurred in some of his experiments on animals he attributes to possible thrombosis of the cerebral vessels. The lethal dose of ricin for man he calculates to be 6.0 milligrams for a man weighing 60 kilograms, this generally being equal to about ten ordinary seeds, although Christison once had a fatal case, where only three seeds had been swallowed, and, on the other hand, a case is on record in which a person who had eaten 17 seeds, recovered. Ricin appears to have a peculiar effect upon blood, causing a rapid conglomeration of the red corpuscules, together with the formation of a substance like fibrin. One part of ricin to 60,000 of defibrinated blood is sufficient to cause a separation of the serum, so that the latter is capable of being passed through a filter. Crotonoleic acid, which exists in croton seeds, was found to be quite distinct from ricin. The results obtained by Dr. Stillmark find further confirmation in a note in the Medical Recorder (July, p. 299), in which it is stated that fifteen children, under six years of age, poisoned by eating castor seeds, suffered from severe vomiting and prostration, but not from catharsis. Ehrlich (Deutsche Med. Wochenschr., No. 32, p. 976, 1891) reports some interesting experiments with ricin. He found that injected into the veins of animals, it is fatal in doses of three milligrams per kilo of body-weight; taken internally it is a hundred times less active, but still so poisonous that 0.18 gram is a fatal dose for an adult man. He found different animals to be unequally affected by it; guinea pigs were especially susceptible to the poison, but white mice much less so. The symptoms were diarrhoea and prostration: on post mortem examination the appearances in some cases were such as are seen in cholera, but more frequently there was a haemorrhagic condition of the intestines and often of the subcutaneous cellular tissue. Ehrlich also succeeded in rendering animals insusceptible to the poison by administering gradually increasing doses internally: at the end of two months of this treatment he found that mice could bear a dose of 5 decigrams of ricin (sufficient to kill an adult man), the fatal dose for an unprotected mouse being 35 milligrams. The immunity obtained was still more marked in experiments on the conjunctiva; under ordinary circumstances touching the membrane with a 1 per cent, solution of ricin produced intense inflammation, but after several weeks of protective treatment the strongest solution could be freely applied without producing any effect. The establishment of the immunity appears to commence suddenly on the sixth day, and continues to increase from that time. The author insists upon the similarity between this sudden immunity and the critical subsidence of fever in certain acute diseases, such as pneumonia, measles, &c, which he considers may also be regarded as indicating the establishment of an immunity in those diseases. Animals in which an immunity to the ricin poison had been established, were found, six months after the cessation of all treatment, to be incapable of being affected by the poison. Ehrlich has also made similar experiments with abrin, the active principle of Abrus precatorius, which he reserves for early publication.’ (Pharmacographia Indica, Dymock, 1893)