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Jatropha unicostata; photograph (c) Arabella Willing, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Arabella Willing, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2024-01-04

Jatropha unicostata Balf.f.

Sibru

Euphorbiaceae · Socotra · listed by its genus as a cactus or succulent

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Jatropha unicostata, photograph (c) Arabella Willing, some rights reserved (CC BY)Jatropha unicostata, photograph (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY)Jatropha unicostata, photograph (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY)Jatropha unicostata, photograph (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY)Jatropha unicostata, photograph (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY)Jatropha unicostata, photograph (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY) 17 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
20.3°C
Record low 18.5 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
32°C
May at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
229mm
3 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
32–46DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
A rainy season, May and October to December, neither the cool nor the warm half of the year. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Jatropha unicostata is a species of plant in the family Euphorbiaceae. It is endemic to Socotra island Yemen. Its name in Soqotri is "sibru". Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical dry forests.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Jatropha unicostata", CC BY-SA 4.0.

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 ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Jatropha", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Grouped as a cactus or succulent, listed under the genus Jatropha in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “semisucculent shrub”.

Seasons

The rain rule reads a rainy season with no name: 70% of the median year's rain (181 mm of 229 mm) falls in May and October to December, whose mean temperature, 25.6 °C, is within half a degree of the year's, 25.5 °C, so it is neither the cooler nor the warmer part of the year. Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: April to June and November.

Rain

229 mm in the median year at the habitat, 181 mm of it May and October to December. Wettest month December at 70 mm, driest month August at 1 mm; 3 months under 5 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 147 mm to 257 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 229 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 229 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 32 to 46 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 30, the highest 90th-percentile month 47).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 20.3 °C, the absolute minimum 18.5 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 32.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 20.4 °C in February (across the grid cells of the range 19.5 °C to 21.9 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 31.8 °C in May (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 20.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: 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 moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. 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.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +73 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Group. Listed under the genus Jatropha in the archetype table, and Kew describes it as “semisucculent shrub”. A group is taken only where Kew's description of the species agrees with the table's listing. The table gives no figure and no prose; the cold floor is the habitat's alone.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Jatropha unicostata through the yearWarmest month May, mean daily high 32 °C; coldest month February, mean nightly low 20.4 °C; 229 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°32.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER18.5° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0255075100mm rainDLI 32–46RH 59–65%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 22 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C25 / 24–2726 / 25–2829 / 27–3031 / 30–3232 / 31–3330 / 29–3028 / 27–2928 / 27–2829 / 28–2929 / 28–3027 / 26–2926 / 24–27
Night °C21 / 20–2220 / 20–2222 / 21–2324 / 23–2526 / 25–2725 / 25–2724 / 24–2524 / 23–2524 / 23–2523 / 22–2422 / 21–2421 / 20–23
Rain mm13 / 5–156 / 3–85 / 4–69 / 7–1024 / 16–374 / 2–82 / 1–41 / 1–38 / 4–1638 / 29–4149 / 26–5570 / 34–78
DLI34 / 32–3639 / 37–4145 / 44–4546 / 46–4742 / 41–4337 / 36–3836 / 36–3736 / 36–3638 / 37–3839 / 38–4035 / 33–3732 / 30–34
RH %61 / 57–6561 / 58–6360 / 57–6359 / 58–6262 / 59–6562 / 58–6561 / 58–6462 / 59–6565 / 61–6963 / 62–6663 / 58–6562 / 58–66
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 22 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (51 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1547:4680 (12.625, 54.025). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 18.5 °C, 1st-percentile night 20.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 32.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 22 distinct grid cells holding 51 of the 52 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1547:4680 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 12.50_53.750, lapse-corrected +73 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 207 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 the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeSocotra · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker12.617, 54.067 · in the densest population, 65 records (100% of those in range)
Kew's description“semisucculent shrub” · “seasonally dry tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 65 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 51 of them in the land cells it reads, of 52 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 16 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 9 km away. 13 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population of the 65 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Jatropha unicostata, photograph 1did not loadJatropha unicostata, photograph 2did not loadJatropha unicostata, photograph 3did not loadJatropha unicostata, photograph 4did not loadJatropha unicostata, photograph 5did not loadJatropha unicostata, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Arabella Willing, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Morten Ross, some rights reserved (CC BY) (5).

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Exacum affine Exacum affine German-violet Photo: CC BY, Павлик ЛисицынEuphorbia spiralis Euphorbia spiralis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossWithania riebeckii Withania riebeckii Solanaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten RossEuphorbia schimperi Euphorbia schimperi Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Morten Ross Boswellia aspleniifolia Burseraceae Monolluma socotrana Apocynaceae

Other Jatropha 25 in the reference

Jatropha andrieuxii Euphorbiaceae Jatropha cardiophylla Jatropha cardiophylla Heartleaf limberbush Photo: CC BY, Bruce HartmanJatropha cathartica Jatropha cathartica Berlander's nettlespurge Photo: CC BY, Annika LindqvistJatropha cinerea Jatropha cinerea Ashy jatropha Photo: CC BY, Enrique Martínez NúñezJatropha cordata Jatropha cordata Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Sue CarnahanJatropha cuneata Jatropha cuneata Leatherplant Photo: CC BY, Abraham Sánchez RomeroJatropha curcas Jatropha curcas Barbados nut Photo: CC BY, Francisco Farriols SarabiaJatropha dhofarica Jatropha dhofarica Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Joey BomJatropha dioica Jatropha dioica Leatherwood Photo: CC0, author not statedJatropha excisa Jatropha excisa Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC0, Max BrujulaJatropha gaumeri Jatropha gaumeri Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Oscar Orlando Vazquez PiñaJatropha gossypiifolia Jatropha gossypiifolia Bellyache bush Photo: CC BY, Ben Machado all 26 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
Balf.f.
Native to
Socotra
Wild records
65 in range · 16 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 12.50_53.750, lapse-corrected +73 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 8 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

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