palma christi

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. The castor-oil plant, Ricinus communis. See cut under castor-oil.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. (Bot.) A plant (Ricinus communis) with ornamental peltate and palmately cleft foliage, growing as a woody perennial in the tropics, and cultivated as an herbaceous annual in temperate regions; -- called also castor-oil plant.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. large shrub of tropical Africa and Asia having large palmate leaves and spiny capsules containing seeds that are the source of castor oil and ricin; widely naturalized throughout the tropics