Species
+

Jatropha multifida L.

Coral bush, Coral plant, Coralbush, French physicnut

Climate known 50 photographs Cactus or succulent
Add one to my plants Sow seed

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 multifida, called coral plant, coralbush, and physic nut, is a species of Jatropha native to Mexico and the Caribbean. A garden plant, it has been introduced to Florida, and to many places in South America, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, China and Southeast Asia. Mildly toxic, consumption causes gastrointestinal distress.

Text from Wikipedia, “Jatropha multifida”, 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.

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
L.
Native to
Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest +8
Wild records
270 in range· 167 open

At a glance

Warmest month
28°C
Sep, mean day; nights 25 °C (CHELSA)
Rain
1612mm/yr
12 wet months · peak Sep 204 mm (CHELSA)
Light
29–43DLI
mol/m²/day, winter to summer, open sky (CHELSA shortwave)
In short condensed by rule from the cultivation cards · not written by a person
Grouped as a cactus or succulent by the genus Jatropha, which is reliably one kind of plant (archetype table). Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.6 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred. Habitat rain 1612 mm a year, wettest September at 204 mm, driest March at 54 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere). Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 43 mol/m²/day. Cold floor 20.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
Each sentence is one card's own one-line form, written by the same rule as the card (Its year, Rain, Light, Temperature); the note cannot say what a card does not. Months are given for the northern hemisphere (set your site in Settings to change this), and the habitat's own alongside. The cards · the figures.

Also known as Adenoropium multifidum (L.) Pohl; Jatropha janipha Blanco; Manihot multifida (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: a sharp rainy season, May to November at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (2.6 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.

This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.

The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (1225 mm of 1612 mm) falls in May to November. The temperature curve is flat, 2.6 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. 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 1612 mm a year, wettest September at 204 mm, driest March at 54 mm (habitat calendar, northern hemisphere).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

1612 mm a year at the habitat, 1225 mm of it May to November. Wettest month September at 204 mm, driest March at 54 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1023 mm to 2258 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: 29 to 43 mol/m²/day.

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Open sky over the habitat: 29 to 43 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 25, the highest 90th-percentile month 46).

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 20.2 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).

This species’ habitat figures, with their source.

Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 20.2 °C, the absolute minimum 17.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 38.6 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 22.8 °C in February (across the envelope cells 16.9 °C to 24.1 °C), warmest day 28.3 °C in September (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.2 °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.

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 61 to 65% 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

Habitat climate through the yearMean day from 26 °C in Jan to 28 °C in Sep; mean night from 23 °C in Feb to 25 °C in Aug. The cold quarter, Jan to Mar, is the three months around the coldest night. 1612 mm of rain a year, most in Sep. The bands show the 10th to 90th percentile across 207 habitat cells. Over 44 years at the typical cell the absolute minimum was 17.2 °C and the 99th-percentile day 38.6 °C; neither is dated to a month. Beneath: daily light integral and relative humidity through the year, each on its own scale.15°20°25°30°35°40°38.6° 99th-percentile day (undated)17.2° lowest night in 44 yrs (undated)°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400mm rainDLI 29–43RH 61–65 %JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain 10th–90th percentile across 207 habitat cells cold quarter: the three months around the coldest night extremes over 44 years at the typical cell, marked at the edge: undated DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C26 / 25–2826 / 25–2826 / 25–2927 / 26–3028 / 27–3128 / 27–3028 / 27–3128 / 27–3128 / 27–3028 / 27–3027 / 26–2926 / 25–28
Night °C23 / 17–2423 / 17–2423 / 18–2424 / 19–2525 / 20–2625 / 21–2625 / 21–2625 / 21–2625 / 21–2625 / 21–2624 / 19–2524 / 18–25
Rain mm80 / 25–13560 / 14–9354 / 6–9880 / 14–141128 / 38–210151 / 75–242174 / 84–270196 / 105–296204 / 130–305188 / 119–261184 / 25–275113 / 15–187
DLI31 / 27–3436 / 31–3840 / 37–4343 / 40–4642 / 40–4442 / 36–4341 / 35–4341 / 35–4238 / 32–3934 / 31–3531 / 27–3329 / 25–32
RH %62 / 59–6661 / 59–6561 / 58–6562 / 58–6664 / 60–6764 / 62–6865 / 62–6965 / 62–6965 / 63–6965 / 63–6964 / 61–6963 / 60–67

Each figure is the median across the 207 grid cells holding the 262 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 1551:1863 (12.425, -86.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 17.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.2 °C, 99th-percentile day 38.6 °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 207 distinct grid cells holding the 262 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1551:1863 (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 12.50_-86.875, lapse-corrected +25 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 128 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across every in-range record's cell, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeMexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Leeward Is. AB Ant, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Trinidad-Tobago, Windward Is.· introduced: Cape Verde, Gambia, The, Guinea, Togo, Central African Republic, Gulf of Guinea Is., Zaïre, Angola, Comoros, China South-Central, Hainan, China Southeast, Bangladesh, East Himalaya, India, Cambodia, Nicobar Is., Jawa, Malaya, Philippines, Sumatera, Samoa, Vanuatu, Caroline Is., Marianas, Hawaii, Florida, Bermuda, Cayman Is., Jamaica, Venezuelan Antilles, Venezuela, Bolivia, Colombia, Peru, Brazil Northeast, Brazil Southeast, Brazil North, Brazil South, Paraguay
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “seasonally dry tropical”· quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Map marker16.199, -61.626 · in the densest population, 104 records (39% of those in range)
Evidence usedThe map marker and the climate envelope rest on all 270 georeferenced records inside the native range; the map shows only the 167 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 14 km away. 1432 records outside the range (gardens, roadsides, misidentifications) ignored. 8 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km and stay on the map but off the climate.
The map markerthe map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 270 in-range records; it decides nothing.

Photographs

Jatropha multifidaJatropha multifidaJatropha multifidaJatropha multifidaJatropha multifidaJatropha multifidaJatropha multifidaJatropha multifida

Photographs: no rights reserved · CC0 (6); (c) Brandon Corder, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Annika Lindqvist, 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 multifida, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.

An Ethnopharmacognostic Approach to the Search for Immunomodulators of Plant Origin
R.P. Labadie, J. van der Nat, J. Simons, B. Kroes (1989) · Planta Medica
Apocynin, a Low Molecular Oral Treatment for Neurodegenerative Disease
Bert A. ‘t Hart, Sjef Copray, Ingrid H.C.H.M. Philippens (2014) · BioMed Research International
Antibacterial activity of Jatropha multifida roots
Olapeju O. Aiyelaagbe (2001) · Fitoterapia
Rare jatropha multifida intoxication in two children
Yotam Levin, Yaniv Sherer, Haim Bibi, Menachem Schlesinger (2000) · Journal of Emergency Medicine
Ethnobotanical study of medicinal plants used by community in Jambur Labu Village, East Aceh, Indonesia
Elfrida Elfrida, NINTA SABRINA TARIGAN, Adi Bejo Suwardi (2021) · Biodiversitas Journal of Biological Diversity
Anti-influenza virus activity of extracts from the stems of Jatropha multifida Linn. collected in Myanmar
Masaki Shoji, So-Yeun Woo, Aki Masuda, Nwet Nwet Win (2017) · BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Labaditin, a novel cyclic decapeptide from the latex of Jatropha multifida L. (Euphorbiaceae)
S. Kosasi, W. G. van der Sluis, Rolf Boelens, L.A. 't Hart (1989) · FEBS Letters
Screening of 16 poisonous plants for antibacterial, anthelmintic and cytotoxic activity in vitro
Lyndy J. McGaw, J.N. Eloff, J.J.M. Meyer (2005) · South African Journal of Botany
Antimicrobial, Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities of Jatropha multifida L. (Euphorbiaceae)
Kokou Anani, Yao Adjrah, Yaovi Améyapoh, Simplice Damintoti Karou (2015) · Pharmacognosy Research
Multifidol and multifidol glucoside from the latex of Jatropha multifida
S. Kosasi, W. G. van der Sluis, R.P. Labadie (1989) · Phytochemistry
A comparison of polyphenolic content, antioxidant activity and insecticidal properties of Jatropha species and wild Ricinus communis L. found in Mauritius
Sillma Rampadarath, Daneshwar Puchooa, Vijayanti Mala Ranghoo-Sanmukhiya (2014) · Asian Pacific Journal of Tropical Medicine

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.

Other Jatropha 4 in the reference

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 answered
gbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zam
climate answered
wikidata 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: skipped
inat.taxon not asked
inat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped
inat.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 answered
openalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skipped

Every upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 113 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.