Unknown plant [is Jatropha]

[Mark Mayfield]

I just now noticed the thread....

I am fairly confident that Monique Reed was on the right track: the unknown
leaf (http://193.204.185.103/leaf/leafpage.htm) with three lobes is a
species of Jatropha as shown at
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/mandy/jatropha.htm.  I have a potted plant of
the latter (not sure what species it is) and it looks nearly identical to
the unknown.  The yellow blotching is apparently due to the pathology,
rather than a character of papaya, which I think it is probably not.  One of
the more convincing characters available in the image is the long swelling
at the base of the petiole; this looks just like my plant. If this is a
Jatropha like the one I have, it should have a few small projections at the
base of the leaf blade near the petiolar junction.  These may be the
"glandular" projections mentioned by Fernandez-Casas.  My plant doesn't look
particularly glandular at the base of the blade, but I'm certain by its
flowers that it's a Jatropha as in the image at
http://www.csdl.tamu.edu/FLORA/mandy/jatropha.htm.

Lastly, I am very certain that the unknown is NOT Euphorbia pulcherrima and
it is not even in the genus Euphorbia; and Brousonettia has dentate leaves.

Mark H. Mayfield
Research Asst. Professor
Division of Biology
Kansas State University
Manhattan, Kansas 66506-4901