Jatropha curcas L. 2.1 Taxonomy 2.1.

1 Jatropha naming and species Carolus Linnaeus was the first person to name the physic nut Jatropha curcas L. or JCL (abbreviation of Jatropha curcas (Linnaeus, 1753). The naming was done according to the binomial nomenclature of "Species Plantarum". The genus name of Jatropha was obtained from the Greek word. Jatros denotes for doctor and trophe means food and thus implies its medicinal uses. There have been other names similar to physic nut such as: Curcas purgans Medik., Ind. Pl. Hort. Manhem. 1: 90. 1771 Ricinusamericanus Miller, Gard. Dict.ed. 8. 1768. Castiglionia lobata Ruiz & Pavon, Fl. Peruv. Pro dr. 139, t. 37. 1794. Jatropha edulis Cerv. Gaz. Lit. Mex. 3: supl. 4.1794. J. acerifolia Salisb., Prodr. Chapel Allerton 389. 1796. Ricinusjarak Thunb., Fl. [avan, 23. 1825. Curcas adansoni Endl., ex Heynh. Nomencl. 176. 1840. Curcas indica A. Rich. in Sagra, Hist. Fis. Pol Nat. Cuba 3: 208. 1853. Jatropha yucatanensis Briq, Ann. Cons. ard. Geneve 4: 230.1900; Standley, Contr. U.S. The common or vernacular names of Jatropha curcas L.are jarak pagar (Malaysia); physic nut, purging nut (English); jarak budeg (Indonesia); Yu-Lu-Tzu (Chinese); sabudam (Thailand); brechnuf (German); pourghere, pignon d'Inde (French); purgeernoot (Dutch); purgiernufs, purgueira (Portuguese); fagiola d'India (Italian); dand barri, habel meluk (Arab); kanananaeranda, parvataranda (Sanskrit); bagbherenda, jangliarandi, safed arand (Hindi); kadam (Nepal); nibang-bakod (the Philippines); bagani (Cote dIvoire): kpoti (Togo); tabanani (Senegal); mupuluka (Angola); butuje (Nigeria); makaen (Tanzania); pifioncillo (Mexico); coquillo, tempate (Costa Rica); tartago (Puerto Rico); mundubi-assu (Brazil); pifiol (Peru) and pinon (Guatemala) (Munch 1986; Schultze-Motel 1986).

2.1.2 Taxonomic status Jatropha plant belongs to the Euphorbiaceous family. The Euphorbiaceae family enclosed nearly 8,000 species, belonging to over 321 genera. Jatropha is a genus of nearly 175 shrubs and trees. It also belongs to the tribe Joannesieae of Crotonoideae in the same family and contains over 170 species. Dehgan and Webster (1979) revised the subdivision made by Pax (1910) and now differentiate two subgenera (Curcas and Jatropha) of the genus Jatropha, with 10 sections and 10 subsections to mediate the Old and New World species and postulated the physic nut to be the most primeval form of the Jatropha genus. Hierarchical cluster analysis of 77, New World Jatropha species arose for the most part in accordance with Dehgan and Webster's (1979) infrageneric classification (Dehgan and Schutzman 1994). The following are other species that belong to the section Curcas: pseudocurcas Mue II.Arg, afrocurcas Pax,. macrophylla Pax & Hoffm.,j. villosa , wightiana Muell. Arg, hintonii Wilbur, bartlettii Wilbur, J.mcvaughii ( Dehgan and Webster 1979). The origin of J.uillosa is Indian afrocurcas and macrophylla, are of East African origin, whereas all the other species in this section are native to America. Even though most of the Jatropha species are native to the Western Hemisphere, there are approximately 66 species native to the Old World. A total of 25 Somalian species were being revised by Hemming and Radcliffe-Smith (1987), all of the subgenus Jatropha, and assigned them in six sections and five subsections in which Jatropha multifida L. and podagrica Hook are of section Peltatae, integerrima of section Polymorphae, and gossypiifolia of section Jatropha are well known and cultivated throughout the tropics as adorning plants.

2.1.3 Taxonomic Hierarchy: Jatropha C. Linnaeus, 1753 Natura - nature Mundus Plinius - physical world Naturalia - natural bodies Biota Domain Eukaryota - eukaryotes Kingdom Plantae Haeckel, 1866 - plants Subkingdom Viridaeplantae Cavalier-Smith, 1981 - green plants Phylum Tracheophyta Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - vascular plants Subphylum Euphyllophytina Infraphylum "Radiatopses" Kenrick & Crane, 1997 Class Magnoliopsida Brongniart, 1843 "eudicots" "core eudicots" Subclass Rosidae Takhtajan, 1967 "fabids" Order Malpighiales C. Martius, 1835 Family Euphorbiaceae A.L. de Jussieu, 1789, nom. cons. - spurge family Subfamily Crotonoideae Tribe Jatropheae (Meisn., 1841) Baill., 1874 Genus Jatropha C. Linnaeus, 1753
Jatropha curcas

Source : (Takhtajan, A. 1997)