Jatropha gossypiifolia (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Jatropha gossypiifolia L.

Protologue: Sp. pl. 2: 1006 (1753).

Synonyms

• Jatropha elegans (Pohl) Klotzsch (1853).

Vernacular names

• Cotton-leaved physic nut (En)
• Indonesia: jarak kosta merah (general), jarak ulung (Lampung, Sumatra), kaleke bacu (Kangean)
• Malaysia: jarak beremah, jarak hitam, jarak merah (Peninsular)
• Philippines: lansi-lansinaan (Tagalog), tagumbau-a-nalabaga (Iloko), tuba-tuba (Panay Bisaya, Cebu Bisaya)
• Laos: nhao luat
• Thailand: sabuu daeng (central), sabu lueat, salot daeng (peninsular)
• Vietnam: dầu lai tiá.

Distribution

J. gossypiifolia is native to tropical America from Mexico to Paraguay and the West Indies. It has been introduced as an ornamental elsewhere in tropical America and many parts of the Old World tropics, especially West Africa and Malesia, and regularly escapes from cultivation.

Uses

Seeds of J. gossypiifolia are used as a cathartic. The Madurese use them after roasting, as a purgative for adults. The seed oil may be useful in treating leprosy. The latex from the leaves is applied on the tongue of babies to cure sores. In general, the latex is used externally to cure ulcers. It also has molluscicidal properties. In the Philippines, a cataplasm of fresh leaves is applied to swollen breasts. Leaves are also employed as a febrifuge in intermittent fevers, or boiled and used in a bath to cure fever. A decoction of the leaves is given as a purgative, as a stomachic, in the treatment of ear and venereal diseases, and as a blood purifier. Externally, leaves are applied to boils and carbuncles, eczema and itches. The roots are employed against leprosy, and a decoction of the bark is used as an emmenagogue.

Observations

• A small, somewhat succulent shrub up to 3 m tall.
• Leaf blade deeply 3-5-lobed, 6-20 cm × 7-22 cm, base cordate, lobes broadly ovate to obovate, margin denticulate, with coarsely stipitate glandular hairs, petiole (2.5-)4-8(-14) cm long, sparsely to densely set with coarse glandular hairs.
• Inflorescence opposite a leaf, cymose, glandular hairy.
• Male flowers with elliptical-lanceolate to ovate, about 2.5 mm long calyx lobes, petals free, about 3.5 mm long, purplish-red, stamens 8(-12), outer ones shorter than inner ones, filaments partly united; female flowers with calyx and petals as in male flower but twice as large, staminodes absent, stigmas capitate, bifid.
• Fruit 3-lobed, roundish, about 1 cm in diameter.
• Seeds about 7.5 mm long, pale greyish-brown, with a multifid caruncle.

J. gossypiifolia may be locally common in drier regions along roads, on waste places, in lawns, scrub vegetation, generally at low altitudes. In Asia all plants are referred to as var. elegans (Pohl) Muell. Arg. which differs from var. gossypiifolia in having denticulate and glandular-ciliate leaf margins.

Selected sources

• [83] Auvin-Guette, C., Baraguey, C., Blond, A., Pousset, J.L. & Bodo, B., 1997. Cyclogossine B, a cyclic octapeptide from Jatropha gossypifolia. Journal of Natural Products 60: 1155-1157.
• [97] Backer, C.A. & Bakhuizen van den Brink Jr, R.C., 1963-1968. Flora of Java. 3 volumes. Noordhoff, Groningen, the Netherlands. Vol. 1 (1963) 647 pp., Vol. 2 (1965) 641 pp., Vol. 3 (1968) 761 pp.
• [122] Banerji, R. et al., 1985. Jatropha seed oils for energy. Biomass 8(4): 277-282.
• [202] Burkill, I.H., 1966. A dictionary of the economic products of the Malay Peninsula. Revised reprint. 2 volumes. Ministry of Agriculture and Co-operatives, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Vol. 1 (A-H) pp. 1-1240. Vol. 2 (I-Z) pp. 1241-2444.
• [284] Corner, E.J.H., 1988. Wayside trees of Malaya. 3rd Edition. 2 volumes. The Malayan Nature Society, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 774 pp.
• [287] Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, 1948-1976. The wealth of India: a dictionary of Indian raw materials & industrial products. 11 volumes. Publications and Information Directorate, New Delhi, India.
• [332] de Padua, L.S., Lugod, G.C. & Pancho, J.V., 1977-1983. Handbook on Philippine medicinal plants. 4 volumes. Documentation and Information Section, Office of the Director of Research, University of the Philippines at Los Baños, the Philippines.
• [338] Dehgan, B. & Webster, G.L., 1979. Morphology and infrageneric relationships of the genus Jatropha (Euphorbiaceae). University of California Publications in Botany 74. University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, United States. 73 pp. & 33 plates.
• [618] Horsten, S.F.A.J., van den Berg, A.J.J., Kettenes-van den Bosch, Leeflang, B.R. & Labadie, R.P., 1996. Cyclogossine A: A novel cyclic heptapeptide isolated from the latex of Jatropha gossypifolia. Planta Medica 62: 46-50.
• [1128] Pételot, A., 1952-1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
• [1135] Philcox, D., 1997. Euphorbiaceae. In: Dassanayake, M.D. & Clayton, W.D. (Editors): A revised handbook to the flora of Ceylon. Vol. 11. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. pp. 80-283.
• [1178] Quisumbing, E., 1978. Medicinal plants of the Philippines. Katha Publishing Co., Quezon City, the Philippines. 1262 pp.
• [1187] Radcliffe-Smith, A., 1987. Euphorbiaceae (Part 1). In: Polhill, R. (Editor): Flora of Tropical East Africa. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam, the Netherlands & Boston, United States. pp. 1-407.
• [1380] Smitinand, T., 1980. Thai plant names. Royal Forest Department, Bangkok, Thailand. 379 pp.

Main genus page

• Jatropha (Medicinal plants)

Authors

• S. Susiarti, E. Munawaroh & S.F.A.J. Horsten