Family – Euphorbiaceae

This exotic, funny and charming plant has many different names: Buddha Belly, Bottle Plant or Tartogo. They form round caudexes which probably use as water reservoir. They do bloom producing bright red or coral flowers.

Jatropha Podagrica should be grown from seed to have the real swollen base on it’s trunk. The germination takes about 3-5 days and is very easy. I bought seeds from an English online store. The seeds should be washed and burried in cactus soil. To achieve warm and humid conditions I put pots into plastic bags and placed them in the warmest location in my house until finally little green sprouts came out. The babies were moved to the south-east window with a lot of sun.

They are over a year now and I am waiting for flowers to come.

Jatropha is very easy to grow plant. There is only one essential thing that you must provide – sunlight. I have two plants that were born at same time in same soil. The bigger one was always exposed to sun sitting right in front of south-east window, the smaller one I moved to the opposite wall in the same room – it is quite bright location too, but the growth difference is dramatic.

Don’t be alerted if jatropha starts to loose the leaves, it is seasonal thing and they will come back after some time. Usually it happens in winter time and it’s a sign to reduce watering to almost none. Even during the growth period the soil should dry out between the waterings. Also make sure the soil in the pot is draining well, you don’t want to keep it moist or soggy. I should probably mention that with all it’s cool and exotic appearance Jatropha Podagrica is a poisonous plant.