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 Pal·ma Chris·ti  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. [Sometimes corrupted into palmcrist.]
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 Pal·mic a.  Chem. Of, pertaining to, or derived from, the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi) and other species of the family Euphorbiaceae; -- formerly used to designate an acid now called ricinoleic acid (d-12-hydroxyoleic acid, C18H34O3). [Obsoles.]
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 ric·in·o·le·ic ac·id n. Chem. An organic acid (C18H34O3) obtained from the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi) and other species of the family Euphorbiaceae; chemicaly it is d-12-hydroxyoleic acid (CH3(CH2)5.CH(OH).CH2.CH=CH.(CH2)7COOH).   Formerly called palmic acid.
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 Cas·tor bean Bot. The bean or seed of the castor-oil plant (Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi.)
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 Cas·tor oil A mild cathartic oil, expressed or extracted from the seeds of the Ricinus communis, or Palma Christi. When fresh the oil is inodorous and insipid.
 Castor-oil plant. Same as Palma Christi.
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 palma christi
      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 [syn: castor-oil plant, castor
          bean plant, palma christ, Ricinus communis]