Botany
· A glabrous, erect, branched shrub 2 to 5 m high. Branches stout cylindric, green.
· Leaves: entire, orbicular-ovate, angular or somewhat 3 to 5-lobed, 10 to 18 cm long, acuminate, base cordate, the petioles long.
· Flowers: greenish or greenish-white, unisexual, 7 to 8 mm in diameter, the staminate ones villous inside, the petals reflexed. Stamen, 10, the filaments of the inner 5, connate. Cymes axillary peduncled.
· Fruits: capsules, at first fleshy, becoming dry, rounded, with 2 to 3 one-seeded divisions, 3 to 4 cm long.

Distribution
Very common in and about towns, in thickets and hedges along roadsides. The name derives from its cultivation and use as a hedge or fence (bakod).

Parts utilized
· Fresh leaves.
· Collected the year round.

Chemical constituents
· Bark contains chlorophyll.
· Seed has a toxic principle, toxalbumin curcin, belonging to the same group as croton and ricin; curcin, comparatively, causes less gastrointestinal irritation. 8 drops of this oil has been reported to cause severe vomiting, followed by diarrhea.
· Physic-nut oil consists of glycerides of palmitic, oleic, and linoleic acids.

· Seed contains a yellow fixed oil, 29-40 %, known as Hell oil, Pinhoen oil, Oleum infernale, and Oleum ricini majoris; the activity is greater than castor oil and less that of croton oil.

Properties
Bitter-tart tasting, cooling natured, antipyretic, antispasmodic, anti-vomiting, haemostatic, suppurative.
Toxic - observe caution with internal use.
Oil of the seed is a drastic purgative.
Roots are emetic and purgative.

Uses
Folkloric
· Internal administration treats acute gastroenteritis, abdominal pain, cholera, vomiting.
· External applications treats bleeding, ulceration of wound, pruritus.
· Dosage: Use fresh leaves, 2 to 3 blades, remove petiole, pound and extract juice, decoct in water.
· Seeds: 1-4 seeds is mildly purgative; an overdose causes drastic purgatiion.
· Decoction of leaves or roots used for diarrhea.
· The leaf decoction is also used as a cough remedy and as galactagogue.
· Poultice of bark used for sprains and dislocations. Sap is used for toothaches.
· Leaves are applied to wounds and pruritic lesions.
· A vigorous massaging of the oil onto the abdomen is believed to be abortifacient..
· Decoction of young leaves taken for fevers.
· Infusion of leaves, hot or cold, mixed with lime juice, used as lotion for fevers.
· In other countries, the seed is used as antihelminthic or abortive; the leaves as insecticidal.
Others
Oil , known as curcas oil, is used as illuminant and lubricant; in the manufacture of soaps and candles
Biodiesel
One of the Philippine plants (Tubang bakod, Malunggay, Bani) that has been considered asan alternative biodiesel source. Jatropha is easy to grow with minimum care, maturing in two years. However, unlike malunggay which is gaining preferable status over tubang-bakod (kasla), Jatropha is left with poisonous waste after oil extraction, while all parts of the Malunggay plant are used.

Availability
Wild-crafted.