Common Name: nutmeg plant
Family: Euphorbiaceae
Common Synonyms: Manihot curcas
USDA Hardiness Zone: 9a - 11
Growth Habit: Shrub or small tree
Origin: Tropical America
FISC Category: -
FDACS Listed Noxious Weed: No
Introduction Date: specimen vouchered in 1951
IFAS Assessment:
Deciduous small tree or shrub to 5m tall with watery latex. Leaves variable, pale green, 3-5 lobed, papery. Inflorescences in leaf axils, male and female flowers on same plant, flowers small, white to pale yellow. Fruit an ellipsoid capsule yellow with black seeds.
Disturbed upland sites
Vouchered from Broward and Brevard. Oil from seed is used to make biodiesel. Interest in cultivating this species for its oil in Lee County.
NA
Dave's Garden. 2013. PlantFiles: Physic nut, Barbadosnut, Purging nut, Jatropha, Jatropha curcas. http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/54497/. Accessed on December 10, 2013.
eFloras. 2013. Flora of China. http://www.efloras.org. Accessed on December 13, 2013. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, MO & Harvard University Herbaria, Cambridge, MA.