Ricinus caruncle promotes the dispersal of the seed by ants (myrmecochory). The name "Ricinus" is a Latin word for tick; the seed is so named because it has markings and a bump at the end that resemble certain ticks. The genus "Ricinus" also exists in zoology, and designates insects (not ticks) which are parasites of birds; this is possible because the names of animals and plants are governed by different nomenclature codes. The common name "castor oil" probably comes from its use as a replacement for castoreum, a perfume base made from the dried perineal glands of the beaver ("castor" in
Castor and Pollux represented in the Circus Maximus by the use of eggs as lap counters. In translations of comedies by Plautus, women generally swear by Castor, and men by Pollux; this is exemplified by the slave-woman character Staphyla in "A Pot of Gold" (act i, ll.67–71) where she swears by Castor in line 67, then the negative prefix in line 71 denotes a refutation against swearing by Pollux. The Etruscans venerated the twins as "Kastur" and "Pultuce", collectively the "tinas cliniiaras", "sons of Tinia," the Etruscan counterpart of Zeus. They were often portrayed on Etruscan mirrors. As was the fashion in Greece,