Bible Dictionaries
Castor Oil Tree

Castor Oil Tree ("Jonah's gourd"). Ricinus communis. קיקיון‎ qîqōnāh - Strongs: H7021.

From Easton: Gourd - (1.) Jonah's gourd (Jonah 4:6-10), bearing the Hebrew name _kikayon_ (found only here), was probably the kiki of the Egyptians, the croton. This is the castor-oil plant, a species of ricinus, the palma Christi, so called from the palmate division of its leaves. Others with more probability regard it as the cucurbita the el-keroa of the Arabs, a kind of pumpkin peculiar to the East. "It is grown in great abundance on the alluvial banks of the Tigris and on the plain between the river and the ruins of Nineveh." At the present day it is trained to run over structures of mud and brush to form boots to protect the gardeners from the heat of the noon-day sun. It grows with extraordinary rapidity, and when cut or injured withers away also with great rapidity.

Verses:

• Jonah 4:6
• Jonah 4:7
• Jonah 4:9
• Jonah 4:10