Species
+

Jatropha curcas L.

Barbados Nut, Barbados Nut, Barbados-nut, Bed Bug Plant

Climate known 54 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.

Summary

Jatropha curcas is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, that is native to the American tropics: Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. It has been spread to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, becoming naturalized or invasive in many areas. The specific epithet, "curcas", was first used by Portuguese physician and naturalist Garcia de Orta more than 400 years ago. Common names in English include physic nut, Barbados nut, poison nut, bubble bush or purging nut. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Jatropha curcas”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.

About the genus · Jatropha

Jatropha is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. The name is derived from the Greek words ἰατρός (iatros), meaning "physician", and τροφή (trophe), meaning "nutrition", hence the common name physic nut. Another common name is nettlespurge. More on Wikipedia ›

The opening of Wikipedia, “Jatropha”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf +33
Wild records
521 in range· 374 open

At a glance

Warmest month
29°C
Apr, mean day; nights 21 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1465mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 220 mm (CHELSA)
Light
30–40DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Jatropha, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1465 mm a year, wettest September at 220 mm, driest February at 33 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 13.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Castiglionia lobata Ruiz & Pav.; Curcas adansonii Endl.; Curcas curcas (L.) Britton & Millsp.; Curcas drastica Mart.; Curcas indica A.Rich. and 15 more.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Jatropha, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). The table holds no figure for this group, which spans too much for one minimum; the cold floor is the habitat's alone, and no prose comes from the table.

Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to October at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.5 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1115 mm of 1465 mm) falls in May to October. The temperature curve is flat, 2.5 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain Habitat rain 1465 mm a year, wettest September at 220 mm, driest February at 33 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1465 mm a year at the habitat, 1115 mm of it May to October. Wettest month September at 220 mm, driest February at 33 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 875 mm to 3020 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 30 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 24, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Warmth and air Cold floor 13.4 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 13.4 °C, the absolute minimum 10.0 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 39.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 19.6 °C in January (across the envelope cells 12.6 °C to 23.5 °C), warmest day 29.1 °C in April (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 13.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).

NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.

The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 27 °C in Jan to 29 °C in Apr; mean night from 20 °C in Jan to 22 °C in Jun. The cold quarter, Dec to Feb, is the three months around the coldest night. 1465 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 406 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 10.0 °C and the 99th-percentile day 39.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.10°15°20°25°30°35°40°45°39.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)10.0° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 30–40RH 61–67 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 406 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C27 / 23–3128 / 24–3229 / 25–3229 / 26–3329 / 25–3328 / 24–3128 / 24–3129 / 24–3128 / 24–3128 / 24–3128 / 24–3027 / 23–30
Night °C20 / 13–2420 / 13–2421 / 14–2421 / 16–2422 / 16–2522 / 15–2522 / 14–2522 / 15–2522 / 16–2522 / 16–2421 / 15–2420 / 14–24
Rain mm38 / 6–22233 / 6–19939 / 4–22565 / 4–216124 / 10–322202 / 31–374192 / 46–373206 / 42–373220 / 71–433171 / 72–362109 / 23–26066 / 8–237
DLI32 / 25–3635 / 29–3938 / 31–4340 / 28–4737 / 25–4734 / 24–4235 / 25–4035 / 28–4032 / 29–3832 / 28–3630 / 26–3530 / 24–35
RH %62 / 55–6961 / 54–6861 / 54–6762 / 54–6864 / 56–6966 / 59–7165 / 60–7166 / 59–7167 / 60–7166 / 61–7165 / 59–7064 / 57–69

Each figure is the median across the 406 grid cells holding the 510 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 1388:1822 (20.575, -88.875). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 10.0 °C, 1st-percentile night 13.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 39.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 406 distinct grid cells holding the 510 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1388:1822 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 20.50_-88.750, lapse-corrected -3 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 25 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast, Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is., Guyana, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil West-Central, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Chile North, Paraguay, Uruguay· introduced: Cape Verde, Benin, Burkina, Gambia, The, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Togo, Burundi, Central African Republic, Gabon, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Chad, Ethiopia, Sudan, Uganda, Angola, Mozambique, Comoros, Seychelles, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Taiwan, Assam, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Sri Lanka, Andaman Is., Cambodia, Laos, Nicobar Is., South China Sea, Thailand, Borneo, Jawa, Lesser Sunda Is., Malaya, Maluku, Philippines, Sulawesi, Sumatera, New Guinea, Queensland, Fiji, New Caledonia, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis-Futuna Is., Caroline Is., Marianas, Hawaii, Florida, Bahamas, Cayman Is., Southwest Caribbean, Venezuelan Antilles, Surinam, Galápagos
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker19.401, -96.44 · in the densest population, 146 records (28% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 521 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 374 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 80 km away. 560 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 11 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 521 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Jatropha curcasJatropha curcasJatropha curcasJatropha curcasJatropha curcasJatropha curcasJatropha curcasJatropha curcas

Photographs: (c) Carlos Domínguez-Rodríguez, some rights reserved (CC BY) (3); no rights reserved · CC0 (4); (c) Francisco Farriols Sarabia, some rights reserved (CC BY).

Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.

Papers naming this species

Works whose title or abstract names Jatropha curcas, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

A review of Jatropha curcas: an oil plant of unfulfilled promise
Keith Openshaw (2000) · Biomass and Bioenergy
Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using latex of Jatropha curcas
Harekrishna Bar, Dipak Kr. Bhui, Gobinda Prasad Sahoo, Priyanka Sarkar (2009) · Colloids and Surfaces A Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects
Biodiesel production from crude Jatropha curcas L. seed oil with a high content of free fatty acids
Hanny Johanes Berchmans, Shizuko Hirata (2007) · Bioresource Technology
Biodiesel production from jatropha oil (Jatropha curcas) with high free fatty acids: An optimized process
Alok Tiwari, Akhilesh Kumar, Hifjur Raheman (2007) · Biomass and Bioenergy
An evaluation of multipurpose oil seed crop for industrial uses (Jatropha curcas L.): A review
Ashwani Kumar, Satyawati Sharma (2008) · Industrial Crops and Products
Exploitation of the tropical oil seed plant Jatropha curcas L.
Georg Gübitz (1999) · Bioresource Technology
Green synthesis of TiO2 nanoparticles using leaf extract of Jatropha curcas L. for photocatalytic degradation of tannery wastewater
Surya Pratap Goutam, Gaurav Saxena, Varunika Singh, Anil Kumar Yadav (2017) · Chemical Engineering Journal
Green synthesis of silver nanoparticles using seed extract of Jatropha curcas
Harekrishna Bar, Dipak Kr. Bhui, Gobinda Prasad Sahoo, Priyanka Sarkar (2009) · Colloids and Surfaces A Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects
A review of biodiesel production from Jatropha curcas L. oil
May Ying Koh, Tinia Idaty Mohd Ghazi (2011) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews
Draft genome sequence of the oilseed species Ricinus communis
Agnes P. Chan, Jonathan Crabtree, Qi Zhao, Hernán Lorenzi (2010) · Nature Biotechnology

Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.

Other Jatropha 4 in the reference

History & registers

Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)
wcvp.distribution answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)
gbif.media answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 162 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.