Meanings
- uncountableAny castor oil plant of species Ricinus communis.
The cooling palma christi leaves that Janie had bound about her grandma’s head with a white rag had wilted down and become part and parcel of the woman.
1937, Zora Neale Hurston, chapter 2, in Their Eyes Were Watching God, University of Illinois Press, published 1978, page 263 more examples
[…] but if you finde that their encrease and continuance multiply with your labour, it shall be then good for you to plant in diuers places of your Garden the hearbe called Palma Christi, in other places Garlicke and in other places Onyons, and it is an assured rule that no Moale will come néere where they grow for the strength and violence of their smell, is poysonous and deadly to those blinde vermines.
1614, Gervase Markham, chapter 7, in The Second Booke of the English Husbandman, London: John Browne, pages 45–46Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander went ashore upon the island, which they found not to be more than five hundred yards long, and one hundred broad; yet there was a house upon it, and a small plantation, where among other things was the Palma Christi, from which the castor oil is made in the West Indies […]
1773, John Hawkesworth, chapter 12, in An Account of the Voyages Undertaken by the Order of His Present Majesty: for Making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere, volume 3, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, page 709They have never been known to fight, and, indeed, have a tradition that their forefathers, in their first essays at war, made their bows of the Palma-Christi; and, when these broke, they gave up fighting altogether.
1857, David Livingstone, chapter 3, in Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, London: John Murray, page 64
Synonyms & antonyms
nounlarge 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
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinpalma
- Englishpalma Christi
From Latin palma Christi, “palm of Christ.”
More words from Latin
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
palma Christi. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palma%20Christi
“palma Christi.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palma%20Christi. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “palma Christi,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/palma%20Christi.
Source: palma Christi on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.