Jatropha
(from iatros, physician, and trophe, food; in allusion to the medicinal qualities of the species). ORD. Euphorbiaceae. A rather large genus (nearly seventy species) of tall stove herbs and shrubs, rarely trees (principally of economic value), widely distributed throughout warm regions, but most abundant in South America. Flowers in cymes. Leaves alternate, stipulate. Jatrophas thrive in a sandy-peat and fibry-loam compost. Cuttings of firm young shoots, dried before insertion, will strike in sandy soil, if placed in a brisk bottom heat.
J. integerrima (entire-leaved). fl. red; racemes sub-cymose. May to August. l. ovate, acuminate, indistinctly lobed at base, rather hairy. h. 3ft. Cuba, 1809. (B. M. 1464.) J. multifida (many-cleft). fl. green. July. l. palmate, eleven-lobed, smooth; lobes pinnatifid, cuneate; stipules setaceous, multifid. h. 3ft. South America, 1696.
J. panduraefolia (fiddle-leaved). fl. scarlet. May to August. l. oblong, sub-panduriform, acuminate, entire, angular at base, with two teeth on each side. h. 4ft. Cuba, 1800. (B. M. 604.) J. podagrica (gouty-stalked).* fl. orange-red; cymes on long peduncles, terminal; teeth of calyx and lobes of corolla blunt. Summer. l. peltate-cordate, five-lobed, glabrous; lobes subovate, blunt; stipules glandularly fringed. Stem erect, branched, gouty at base. h. 1 1/2ft. New Grenada, 1847. (B. M. 4376.) J. urens (stinging). fl. slender. June to September. l. roundish-cordate, three to five-lobed; the divisions toothed, cut, or even pinnatifid, often discoloured. h. 2ft. to 4ft. Tropical America, 1880. (G. C. n. s., xiv. 753.)