Spice up your Life
I am on the hunt for a backyard tree. Not a big one, but something open and loose, with pretty flowers that will make a statement. I may have found it….. I will preface this to say that I reserve the right to change my mind (clearly), but for the moment I am leaning towards a Jatropha integerrima.
“What on earth is that??” you may ask… well it has common names of spicy Jatropha and peregrina. Not helpful? I’d never heard of it either, but I came across it in Indonesia when we visited a few years ago and then (after some reverse image searching) was on the hunt! I found a small plant in an obscure nursery in the Sunshine Coast hinterland and it’s been flowering ever since. The same beautiful deep pink-red flowers I remember. I love it.
After a lot of deliberating recently over choosing said feature tree (to replace the very scrappy looking banana that I knew was a bad idea to put there, but did it anyway, as you do) I realised I might just have the perfect one growing already! Granted it has to grow a bit more, as it’s currently maaaaybe a foot high, and I want something around 3-4 m (which it should get to). But I’ll be patient (so she says, we’ll see).
Jatropha integerrima - I still always revert to its scientific name, although I quite like the name ‘spicy Jatropha’ - is native to the West Indies and is a popular ornamental in many tropical locations. It has fat, sometimes lobed, dark green leaves, and a somewhat sparse canopy - perfect for the dappled shade I am hoping to create. It can grow quite shrub-like so some formative pruning will help achieve more of a tree shape. As I mentioned before, it has beautiful deep pink-red flowers.
J. integerrima is monoecious which means it has distinct male and female flowers on the same plant. The male flowers have multiple stamens tipped in bright yellow pollen, whilst the female flowers (which there are fewer of!) have a central pistil and no flash of yellow. Being part of the Euphorbiaceae (spurge) family, it is poisonous if ingested, but it, and other members of the Jatropha genus, are known to be used in India and Bangladesh as a poultice to treat skin conditions such as eczema. Probably don’t try that at home though, because the milky sap is also known to cause skin irritation!