Jatropha gossypiifolia L.
Bellyache bush, Bellyache bush, Bellyache bush, Black physicnut, Cotton-leaf physicnut, American purging nut, Cotton-leaf jatropha, Purging nut, Red fig-nut flower, Wild cassava, Flaide
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 gossypiifolia, commonly known as bellyache bush, black physicnut or cotton-leaf physicnut, is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. The species is native to Mexico, South America, and the Caribbean islands, but is currently spread throughout the tropics. It is declared noxious weed in Puerto Rico and is naturalised in northern Australia, including Queensland where it is listed as a Class 2 declared pest plant. It grows to 2.5–4 m (8.2–13.1 ft) high. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Jatropha gossypiifolia”, 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.
At a glance
Also known as Adenoropium gossypiifolium (L.) Pohl; Jatropha gossypiifolia var. typica Chodat & Hassl.; Manihot gossypiifolia (L.) Crantz.
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: no season, 70% of the rain takes 8 months (May to December at the habitat (not shifted)).
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads no season: 70% of the year's rain (974 mm of 1292 mm) takes 8 months, May to December. Mean temperature moves 1.4 °C between the warmest and coldest month. 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 1292 mm a year, wettest October at 147 mm, driest February at 66 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
1292 mm a year at the habitat, 974 mm of it May to December. Wettest month October at 147 mm, driest February at 66 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 659 mm to 2474 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: 31 to 38 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 31 to 38 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 43).
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 21.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 21.7 °C, the absolute minimum 19.3 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 42.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 23.0 °C in January (across the envelope cells 18.3 °C to 24.8 °C), warmest day 28.5 °C in September (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.7 °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.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 64% 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
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 28 / 25–32 | 28 / 25–32 | 28 / 25–32 | 28 / 26–32 | 28 / 25–31 | 28 / 24–31 | 28 / 24–32 | 28 / 25–32 | 29 / 26–32 | 28 / 26–32 | 28 / 26–31 | 28 / 26–31 |
| Night °C | 23 / 18–25 | 23 / 19–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 23 / 18–25 | 24 / 17–26 | 24 / 16–26 | 23 / 16–26 | 24 / 16–26 | 24 / 18–26 | 24 / 19–26 | 23 / 18–26 | 23 / 18–25 |
| Rain mm | 76 / 13–273 | 66 / 10–253 | 81 / 10–266 | 95 / 21–260 | 124 / 24–292 | 110 / 22–282 | 106 / 18–279 | 117 / 16–280 | 135 / 17–291 | 147 / 25–292 | 137 / 20–240 | 98 / 23–247 |
| DLI | 33 / 28–39 | 36 / 30–40 | 38 / 30–42 | 36 / 28–43 | 33 / 25–42 | 33 / 24–43 | 34 / 24–42 | 36 / 28–41 | 36 / 30–40 | 34 / 29–41 | 32 / 28–40 | 31 / 27–39 |
| RH % | 63 / 56–68 | 62 / 57–68 | 62 / 57–68 | 63 / 58–69 | 64 / 59–69 | 64 / 58–70 | 64 / 57–69 | 64 / 55–69 | 64 / 55–69 | 64 / 57–70 | 64 / 58–70 | 63 / 58–69 |
Each figure is the median across the 671 grid cells holding the 849 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 1596:2128 (10.175, -73.575). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 19.3 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 42.6 °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 671 distinct grid cells holding the 849 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1596:2128 (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 10.00_-73.750, lapse-corrected -99 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 97 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Ben Machado, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5); (c) Alexis López Hernández, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) scaup, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) zebedeugalinha, 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 gossypiifolia, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
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.
Thespesia populnea Indian tuliptree
Senna bicapsularis Blydog
Plumeria pudica Hammerleaf Frangipani
Peperomia pellucida Clearweed
Chrysobalanus icaco Coco
Roystonea oleracea Caribbean royal palmOther Jatropha 4 in the reference
Jatropha curcas Barbados Nut
Jatropha integerrima Integrileaf Jatropha
Jatropha multifida Coralbush
Jatropha podagrica Buddha belly plant 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 answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata 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: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.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 answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 153 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








