Castor Oil Plant Flowers
Castor Oil Plant Flowers Most modern commentators agree that the plant mentioned in Jonah 4 was the castor oil plant, Ricinus communis. A member of the spurge family, its flowers produce a seed called a “castor bean,” which is not a true bean. The plant probably originated in eastern Africa but was introduced in ancient times, both for its ornamental beauty and for its useful products, into the eastern Mediterranean Basin, Mesopotamia, and the Indian Subcontinent. Jonah 4:6–11 Image by H. Zell, from Wikimedia Commons. License: CC BY-SA 3.0