596 



MANUAL OF POISONOUS PLANTS 



4. Jatropha L. Spurge Nettle or Bull Nettle 



Monoecious, or rarely dioecious, perennial herbs, with bristly hairs, entire 

 or lobed leaves ; flowers in cymes ; calyx colored like petals in sterile flower, 

 mostly salver-shaped, and S-lobed, enclosing 10-30 stamens ; pistillate flowers 

 in the lower forks of the cymes ; capsule ovoid or subglobose, separating into 

 2-valved carpels. A small genus of 4 or 5 species. 



Jatropha stimulosa Michx 



A branching, perennial plant with a stout root, 6-12 inches high, and sting- 

 ing hairs; leaves round, heart-shaped, 3-5 lobed or variously cleft; calyx of 

 the staminate flower salver-form, white or pinkish ; stamens 10, filaments almost 

 separate ; seeds oblong-ovoid, smooth and mottled. 



Distribution. In dry sandy soil from Virginia to Texas. 



Poisonous properties. Mr. John Smith says that a plant growing at Kew 

 was placed on his wrist, and produced in a few minutes, serious symptoms ex- 

 tending to the upper part of his body; the lips became swollen, and the whole 

 of a livid red, fainting coming on in ten minutes. The writer was told of numer- 

 ous instances of poisoning in Texas where it is much dreaded. 



Jatropha urens, known as the Brazilian stinging nut, is considered to be one 

 of the most poisonous plants known. The Cuban physic nut (Japtropha Cur- 

 cas) is used as a purgative. 



Fig. 331. Spurge Nettle. L,ois Pammel 



Fig. 332. Spurge nettle (Jatropha stimulosa). 

 The Jatropha has stinging hairs that produce in- 

 juries similar to those produced by nettle but much 

 more powerful. (After Hochstein). 



