Plant · P-724

Jatropha

Jatropha curcas

Jatropha is a fast-growing shrub whose seeds are pressed for an oil used as a diesel substitute, and cuttings planted straight into the ground root readily enough to form a stock-proof living fence within a season. Its seed, oil and leaves are all poisonous to eat raw, containing compounds that killed calves fed even small amounts, though industrial detoxification can turn the pressed meal into a usable livestock feed. Global plantations sold on biodiesel promises through the 2000s mostly failed commercially, since the yields that justify growing it need real rainfall and fair soil rather than the marginal ground it was usually planted on.