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(Last Modified On 3/18/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/18/2013)
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Genus
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Jatropha L
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. P1. 1006, 1753
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Reference
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Gen. P1. ed. 5, 437, 1754.
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Synonym
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Curcas Adans., Fam. P1. 2: 356, 1763.
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Description
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Trees, shrubs, or perennial herbs; monoecious or dioecious; stems with pale to distinctly colored latex. Leaves alternate, simple to lobed or divided, entire to conspicuously serrate; stipules often glandular or spinose. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, usually distinctly pedunculate, dichasial, 9 flowers at proximal dicho- tomies and fewer than the c. Staminate flowers with 5 sepals, ? imbricate; petals 5, imbricate, free or coherent to connate, greenish or white to red; disc entire or dissected into segments; stamens mostly 8-12, the filaments connate, the anthers usually in 2(-6) whorls, dehiscing longitudinally; pollen grains globose, inaper- turate, exine with massive hexagonal processes; pistillode reduced or absent. Pistillate flowers with 5 sepals, imbricate; petals as in d'; disc annular or dis- sected; ovary of usually 3 carpels (rarely 2, 4, or 5), smooth, the ovules 1 per locule, the styles connate below or free, entire or bifid. Fruits capsular (but some- times tardily dehiscent); seeds carunculate, with thin crustaceous testa, endosperm present, copious, the cotyledons broad, palmatinerved, the radicle short. A pantropical genus of perhaps 150 species, with about 70-80 represented in America; only one species (J. gossyp~iifolia) is native in Panama. In addition to the three species enumerated below, various others are doubtlessly cultivated in gardens and may possibly be found escaped. Jatropha podagrica Hooker was described from Panama on the basis-of a Seemann collection, but the original description makes it clear that this was a cultivated specimen; no indigenous Panamanian plants of the species have ever been discovered. From the Panamanian species described below, J. podagrica may easily be distinguished by its long- petioled peltate leaves, which are glaucous underneath.
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Habit
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Trees shrubs
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Habit
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herbs
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Reference
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McVaugh, R., The genus Jatropha in America: principal intrageneric groups. Bull. Torrey Bot. Club 72: 271-294, 1945. Wilbur, R. L., A synopsis of Jatropha, subsection Eucurcas, with the descrip- tion of two new species from Mexico. Jour. Elisha Mitchell Soc. 70: 92-101, 1954.
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Key
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a. Stipules glandular-dissected; leaf-blades deeply 3-5-lobed, with marginal glandular teeth; petals dark purplish-red, glabrous; stamens mostly 8 -------------------1. J. gossypiifolia aa. Stipules entire or obscure, not glandular; leaf-blades entire to lobed half way to midrib, without marginal glandular teeth; petals paler, hirsutulous; stamens mostly 10. b. Petals small (less than 1 cm long), greenish-yellow, hirsutulous over most of inner face; fruits semi-drupaceous, tardily dehiscent; leaf-blades mostly deeply or broadly cordate at base, coarsely lobed, with 5-7 major veins at base --------------------- 2. J. curcas bb. Petals larger (more than 1 cm long), bright red, hirsutulous only at base; fruits not fleshy, quickly dehiscent; leaf-blades rounded to narrowly cordate at base, entire or with small lateral or basal lobes, with 3-5 major veins at base ---------------- 3. J. integerrima
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