Jatropha EUPHOKBIACEiE 313 



Sloane says : " This is the most general [purgative] remedy of the 

 poorer sort in the dry belly-ache ; they take of the leaves from seven to 

 tvirenty-one, and boil them, drinking the decoction." Poultry are fond of 

 the seeds. See Barham, Hortus Americanus, 19. 



3. J. multiftda L. Sp. PL 1006 (1753) & Amoen. v. 383; 

 leaves palmately deeply lobed, glabrous, lobes generally 11 (-7), 

 1—1 '5 dm. 1., lanceolate, narrowed .into a long tail at apex with 

 l-3(-5) smaller lobes on each side, much lighter and more or 

 less pruinose beneath. — Wright Mem. 219 ; Sw. Ohs. Bot. 368 ; 

 Salish. Parad. <. 91 ; Griseh. loc. cif. ; Muell. Arg. in DC. Prodr. 

 XV. pt. 2, 1089 & in Fl. Bras. xi. pt. 2, 495, t. 69, /. I; JJrh. 

 Symb. Ant. iv. 350; Pax torn. cit. 40; Hutchinson torn. cit. 784. 

 Ricinus americanus tenuiter &c. Breyn. Cent. 116, t. 53; Sloane 

 Cat. 40 & Hist. i. 36. Manihot folio &c. Dill. Elth. 217, t. 173. 

 J. assurgens foliis digitalis &c. Browne Hist. Jam. 348. Type iu 

 Herb. Linn. 



Spanish, or French Physic Nut. 



{Sloane, Barbados, Herb. ii. 95 1 and Carp. Coll. !) Browne ! Wright ! 

 Liguanea, Broughton ! Pamell ! Lucea, Hitchcock ; cultivated and appar- 

 ently indigenous in Jamaica and West Indies generally, continental tropical 

 and subtropical America, cult, and subspontaneous in trop. Africa and 

 S.E. Asia. 



Small tree or shrub, 5-20 ft. high. Branches glabrous. Leaves palmately 

 deeply lobed, glabrous; lobes generally ll(-7), 1-1 "5 dm. 1., lanceolate 

 narrowed into a long tail at apex, with l-3(-5) smaller lobes on each side, 

 much lighter and more or less pruinose beneath. Petiole 1-2 dm. I., glab- 

 rous. Stipules cut into thread-like, glabrous segments, 1-2 cm. 1. Cymes 

 corymb-like, glabrous ; peduncle 2-1 dm. 1. Bracts linear-lanceolate, 

 glabrous, !• 5-2 "6 mm. 1. Pedicels jointed at the apex. Flowers scarlet, 

 glabrous. Male flowers : Calyx 2-2*5 mm. 1.; segments about half as long, 

 with rounded apex, of a pale coral colour. Petals 4-6 mm. 1. Disk of five 

 glands united at the base. Filaments 8, red, free to the base ; anthers 

 long. Female flowers : Calyx and petals as in male, petals to 6 or 7 mm. 1. 

 Ovary glabrous. Styles short, united in the lower half, with thick 2-lobed 

 stigmas. Capsule yellow, with a longitudinal slight ridge on back of the 

 cocci, 2-3 cm. 1. and br. Seeds mottled, broadly ellipsoidal, about 2 cm. 1. 



See Barham, Hortus Americanus, 141. 



[J. podagTlea Hooh. Bot. Mag. t. 4376 (1848); Muell. Arg. 

 in DC. Prodr. xv. pt. 2, 1093 ; Pax torn. cit. 44. 



Naturalized in waste places in the lowlands, cult, in Hope Gardens, 

 Harris 1 Fl. Jam. 12,709. — Central America and northern S. America, 

 also cultivated in many of the West Indian islands. 



Stem, l-lj ft. high, and branches distorted, swollen at their bases, 

 succulent, pale greenish-brown ; trunk and branches marked with the 

 scars of the fallen leaves. Leaves peltate, 3-6-lobed, base sometimes 

 somewhat flattened, glabrous ; 6-22 cm. in diam., only a few appearing at 

 a time at the apex of the branches ; petioles usually as long as the leaf ; 

 stipules with glandular fringe, persisting for some time after the fall of 

 the leaf. Cymes compact, corymb-like ; peduncle long. Flowers orange- 

 scarlet, rather small, female solitary at the forks, male numerous at tho 

 ends of the branches. Male flowers : Calyx exceeding 2 mm. 1., lobes 

 rounded, about "7 mm. 1. Petals oblong-elliptical, apex rounded, 7 mm. 1. 



