Taxon: Jatropha curcas L.

Common names:

• Barbados-nut   (Source: Noxweed Aust ) – English
  
• bubblebush   (Source: CRC MedHerbs ed2 ) – English
  
• physicnut   (Source: Hortus 3 ) – English
  
• purgenut   (Source: Kellerman et al.1988) – English
  
• purgingnut   (Source: Handb Nuts ) – English
  
• fève d'enfer   (Source: PROTABASE ) – French
  
• grand pignon d'Inde   (Source: PROTABASE ) – French
  
• gros ricin   (Source: PROTABASE ) – French
  
• médicinier   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• médicinier béni   (Source: F LAnt ) – French
  
• médicinier barrière   (Source: F LAnt ) – French
  
• médicinier purgatif   (Source: PROTABASE ) – French
  
• pignon d'Inde   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• purghère   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – French
  
• Purgiernuß   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – German
  
• Termitenbaum   (Source: Zander Ency ) – German
  
• ratanjyor   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – India
  
• galamaluco   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Portuguese
  
• grão-de-maluco   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Portuguese
  
• purgueira   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Portuguese
  
• ricino-major   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Portuguese
  
• manduri-graça   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• pinhão-de-cerca   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• pinhão-de-purga   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• pinhão-manso   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• pinhão-paraguaio   (Source: D. Groth, p.c. 2005) – Portuguese (Brazil)
  
• frailejón   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• piñón   (Source: Dict Rehm ) – Spanish
  
• piñón blanco   (Source: J.A. Duke, p.c. 1999) – Spanish
  
• tártago   (Source: F PuertoR ) – Spanish
  
• mbono   (Source: PROTABASE ) – Swahili
  
• oljejatrofa   (Source: Vara kulturvaxt namn ) – Swedish
  

More:

see MMPND for additional names in foreign scripts

Economic importance:

• Harmful organism host: crop pests   (fide Noxweed Aust)
  
• Environmental: boundary/barrier/support   (fide PROTABASE)
  
• Environmental: erosion control   (fide PROTABASE)
  
• Fuels: potential as petroleum substitute/alcohol   (fide web document)
  
• Materials: lipids   (for candle- and soapmaking fide Pl Book)
  
• Materials: tannin/dyestuff   (fide New Crops 146. 1989; Pl Res SEAs 12(1):324. 1999, for blue dye)
  
• Medicines: folklore   (fide R. Vasquez & J. A. Duke, Amazonian ethnobotanical dictionary; Pl Res SEAs 12(1):324. 1999; CRC MedHerbs ed2; Herbs Commerce ed2)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: fish   (fide PROTABASE)
  
• Vertebrate poisons: mammals   (fide PROTABASE)
  

More:

View toxicology references for Jatropha curcas from FDA Poisonous Plant Database

View phytochemical or ethnobotanical data from Duke's Phytochemical and Ethnobotanical Databases

Distributional range:

• NORTHERN AMERICA
  Mexico
• SOUTHERN AMERICA
  Mesoamerica: Belize; Costa Rica; El Salvador; Guatemala; Honduras; Nicaragua
  Brazil: Brazil
  Western South America: Bolivia; Peru
  Southern South America: Argentina; Paraguay

• widely naturalized in tropics

• widely cultivated in tropics

References:

• PROTABASE, the information base of PROTA (Plant Resources of Tropical Africa) (on-line resource).
• Adams, C. 1972. Flowering plants of Jamaica.
• Aldén, B., S. Ryman & M. Hjertson. 2009. Våra kulturväxters namn - ursprung och användning. Formas, Stockholm (Handbook on Swedish cultivated and utility plants, their names and origin).
• Balakrishnan, N. P. & T. Chakrabarty. 2007. The family Euphorbiaceae in India; a synopsis of its profile, taxonomy and bibliography.
• Balick, M. J. et al. 2000. Checklist of the vascular plants of Belize, with common names and uses. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 85.
• Correa, J. E. & H. Y. Bernal. 1992. Especies vegetales promisorias de los paises del Convenio Andres Bello.
• Delgado-Montoya, J. L. & E. Parado-Tejada. 1989. Potential multipurpose agroforestry crops identified for the Mexican tropics. In: G. E. Wickens et al., New crops for food and industry. Pp. 166–168 in: Wickens, G. E. et al., eds., New crops for food and industry.
• Duke, J. A. et al. 2002. CRC Handbook of medicinal herbs.
• Duke, J. A. 1989. Handbook of Nuts. CRC Press.
• Duke, J. A. 1999. pers. comm. [re. common names].
• Erhardt, W. et al. 2008. Der große Zander: Enzyklopädie der Pflanzennamen.
• Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 2010. Ecocrop (on-line resource).
• Govaerts, R. et al. 2000. World checklist and bibliography of Euphorbiaceae.
• Groth, D. 2005. pers. comm. [re. Brazilian common names].
• Heller, J. 1996. Physic nut. Jatropha curcas L. Pp. 1:1–66 in: International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI), Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops.
• Howard, R. 1974–1989. Flora of the lesser Antilles.
• Kartesz, J. T. 1994. A synonymized checklist of the vascular flora of the United States, Canada, and Greenland.
• Kellerman, T. S. et al. 1988. Plant poisonings and mycotoxicoses of livestock in Southern Africa.
• Killeen, T. J. et al. 1993. Guia de arboles de Bolivia.
• Kingsbury, J. M. 1964. Poisonous plants of the United States and Canada. [poisonous].
• Lampe, K. F. & M. A. McCann. 1985. AMA handbook of poisonous and injurious plants. [poisonous].
• Liberty Hyde Bailey Hortorium. 1976. Hortus third.
• Liogier, A. H. 1981–. Flora of Hispaniola: Part 1; La Flora de la Española. Part II-.
• Liogier, H. A. 1984–. Descriptive flora of Puerto Rico and adjacent islands.
• Mabberley, D. J. 1997. The plant-book: a portable dictionary of the vascular plants, ed. 2.
• Macbride, J. F. et al., eds. 1936–1971. Flora of Peru.; new ser. 1980-
• McGuffin, M., J. T. Kartesz, A. Y. Leung, & A. O. Tucker. 2000. Herbs of commerce, ed. 2.
• Missouri Botanical Garden. W³Tropicos (on-line resource).
• Padua, L. S. de et al., eds. 1999. Medicinal and poisonous plants 1. P. 12(1):324 in: Faridah Hanum, I. & L. J. G. van der Maesen, eds., Plant Resources of South-East Asia (PROSEA).
• Parsons, W. T. & E. G. Cuthbertson. 1992. Noxious weeds of Australia.
• Porcher, M. H. et al. Searchable World Wide Web Multilingual Multiscript Plant Name Database (MMPND) (on-line resource).
• Rehm, S. 1994. Multilingual dictionary of agronomic plants.
• Reitz, R., ed. 1965–. Flora ilustrada catarinense.
• Royal Tropical Institute. 2007. Sustainable biofuel in Mali. [re. potential use as fuel substitute].
• Standley, P. C. & J. A. Steyermark. 1946–1976. Flora of Guatemala.
• Turrill, W. B. et al., eds. 1952–. Flora of tropical East Africa.
• Vasquez, R. & J. A. Duke. 1994. Amazonian ethnobotanical dictionary.
• Zuloaga, F. O. & O. Morrone, eds. 1996. Catálogo de las plantas vasculares de la República Argentina. I. Pteridophyta, Gymnospermae y Angiospermae (Monocotyledonae), II. Dicotyledonae. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 60, 74., 1999

More:

Search AGRICOLA article citation database for citations referencing Jatropha curcas.

Search NCBI's Entrez search engine for PubMed citations referencing Jatropha curcas.

Search Biodiversity Heritage Library for historical publications referencing Jatropha curcas.

Check other web resources for Jatropha curcas L.:

• Flora del Conosur: Catálogo de las Plantas Vasculares del Conosur
• TROPICOS: Nomenclatural and Specimen Database of the Missouri Botanical Garden
• Mansfeld: Mansfeld's World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops
• PROTABASE: Plant Resources of Tropical Africa's (PROTA's) online resource
• ePIC: Electronic Plant Information Centre of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• AGRICOLA: Article Citation Database or NAL Catalog of USDA's National Agricultural Library
• Entrez: NCBI's search engine for PubMed citations, GenBank sequences, etc.

Check other web resources for images:

• PlantSystematics.org
• Note: Be advised that their identity may be inaccurate. Proper identification of a plant may require specialized taxonomic knowledge or comparison with properly documented herbarium material.

Abbreviations & symbols in GRIN Taxonomy

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