''Jatropha cathartica'' is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

in the

spurge ''Euphorbia'' is a very large and diverse genus of flowering plants, commonly called spurge, in the family Euphorbiaceae. "Euphorbia" is sometimes used in ordinary English to collectively refer to all members of Euphorbiaceae (in deference to t ...

family,

Euphorbiaceae Euphorbiaceae, the spurge family, is a large family of flowering plants. In English, they are also commonly called euphorbias, which is also the name of a genus in the family. Most spurges, such as '' Euphorbia paralias'', are herbs, but some, ...

, that is native to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

and Coahuila, Nuevo León and

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tamaulipas), is a state in the northeast region of Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Federal Entiti ...

in northeastern

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

. Common names include jicamilla (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

) and Berlandier's nettlespurge.

Description

''Jatropha cathartica'' is a

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

herb that grows from an enlarged, tuberlike woody root ( caudex). It is

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

, losing both stems and leaves, and spends the winter in a dormant state.

Caudex

The large caudex is

globose A sphere () is a geometrical object that is a three-dimensional analogue to a two-dimensional circle. A sphere is the set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three-dimensional space.. That given point is the ...

, pastel-white, and up to wide and tall (or more). It is underground in the wild but becomes exposed if cultivated in a container.

Stems

Stems reach a length of 30 cm and have petioles up to long.

Leaves

Leaves are gray-green, palmate, very deeply lobed five to seven times, and up to 10 cm long.

Flowers

The flowers are showy, bright pink to poppy-red, and arrayed in loose clusters at the ends of long peduncles. Each

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

bears individual flowers up to 12 mm wide, of which 3–4 are female and 10–12 are male. It blooms throughout the growing season from February to November, but mainly in summer.

Fruit

The fruit is a green, pea-like three-lobed capsule containing three seeds.

Habitat

Berlandier's nettlespurge grows scattered among brush, usually on clay soil in hot, arid regions. This plant has adapted to drought and can survive many days without rain. It will grow in sun or shade, but will rot in a cold, damp environment.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q6164678 cathartica Plants described in 1832 Flora of Coahuila Flora of Nuevo León Flora of Tamaulipas Flora of Texas Caudiciform plants