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Jatropha

L. (1753)

This name is accepted

Kingdom: Viridiplantae Phylum: Magnoliophyta Class/Clade: Eudicot-Rosids Order: Malpighiales Family: Euphorbiaceae Genus: Jatropha

Description

Key Characters:

Growth Form: Monoecious or rarely dioecious trees, shrubs, or perennial herb.

Stems: With copious pale but slightly colored sap.

Roots:

Leaves: Leaves simple. Alternate. Margins entire or serrate. Palmately veined, lobed or divided. Petiolate. Stipules often glandular or spinose.

Flowers: Flowers in terminal, long–pedunculate dichasia; lower flowers pistillate, upper ones staminate. Flowers unisexual; plants monoecious. Calyx 5-lobed. Corolla of 5 petals, greenish to yellowish white or red to purple, imbricate to contorted, sometimes coherent but not truly connate. Stamens of staminate flowers 8–10; filaments connate. Ovary superior (pistillate flowers), (2)3(4)-celled; ovules 1 per cell; styles connate at base, bifid. Staminate flower ovary absent.

Fruit: Capsules sometimes tardily dehiscent; the valves crustaceous to woody; the central column persistent. Seeds 1 per cell; ellipsoid; seed coat crustaceous.

Ploidy:

Habitat:

Elevation Range:

Historical Distribution

Uses and Culture

USES

  • Grown as a hedges, shrubs, and for their bright flowers

  • Kuku'ihi/physic nut (J. curcas) is used in soap and candles

Natural History

Island Status

Dispersal Agents


Pollinators

Notes

  • Contains curcin, a type of toxalbumin. Toxalbumin cause bleeding lesions similar to alkaline burns of the mouth, esophagus, stomach, etc upon consumption
  • Toxalbumin also can be absorbed into the bloodstream, interfering with cell function, causing organ damage, and possibly leading to death

Bibliography

Name Published In: Sp. Pl.: 1006 (1753)

Other References

Poisonous Plants of Paradise (Scott and Thomas) p.85-89

Occurrences

SNo. Scientific Name Scientific Name Authorship Locality Habitat Basis of Record Recorded By Record Number Island Source Date
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