Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations
Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.
Native range 9 botanical countries
| Region | TDWG code | Continent |
|---|---|---|
| Bolivia | BOL | SOUTHERN AMERICA |
| Brazil North | BZN | |
| Brazil Northeast | BZE | |
| Brazil South | BZS | |
| Brazil Southeast | BZL | |
| Brazil West-Central | BZC | |
| Colombia | CLM | |
| Ecuador | ECU | |
| Peru | PER |
Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.
Where it actually grows measured, from 1,958 observations
| Condition | 5th percentile | Median | 95th percentile |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coldest month, mean daily low | 9.8 °C | 18.9 °C | 24.3 °C |
| Warmest month, mean daily high | 25.5 °C | 29.7 °C | 34.3 °C |
| Annual rainfall | 929 mm | 2,401 mm | 4,060 mm |
| Rainfall in the driest quarter | 20 mm | 155 mm | 640 mm |
It is barely found anywhere that freezes. This is not care advice and it is not a forecast. It is a measurement: we sampled the climate at every one of the 1,958 research-grade observations of Manihot esculenta that carry a coordinate, and this is the range those places actually span. The 5th and 95th percentiles are used rather than the minimum and maximum, because a single cultivated specimen in a heated conservatory should not widen a tropical plant's range to the Arctic.
This is not a hardiness zone. A USDA zone is the average annual extreme minimum temperature. The figure above is the mean daily minimum of the coldest month, which is a different quantity and is typically far warmer. Reading one as the other would place a plant several zones too warm, so we do not publish a hardiness zone, because we do not have one.
Also published as 74 synonyms
A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.
- Janipha aipi (Pohl) J.Presl
- Janipha manihot (L.) Kunth
- Jatropha aipi (Pohl) Göpp.
- Jatropha diffusa (Pohl) Steud.
- Jatropha digitiformis (Pohl) Steud.
- Jatropha dulcis [J.F.Gmel.]
- Jatropha flabellifolia (Pohl) Steud.
- Jatropha glauca A.Rich.
- Jatropha janipha Lour.
- Jatropha lobata var. richardiana Müll.Arg.
- Jatropha loureiroi Steud.
- Jatropha manihot L.
- Jatropha mitis Sessé & Moc.
- Jatropha mitis Rottb.
- Jatropha paniculata Ruiz & Pav. ex Pax
- Jatropha silvestris Vell.
- Jatropha stipulata Vell.
- Mandioca aipi Pohl ex Link
- Mandioca dulcis Parodi
- Mandioca utilissima Pohl ex Link
- Manihot aipi Pohl
- Manihot aipi var. lanceolata Pohl
- Manihot aipi var. latifolia Pohl
- Manihot aipi var. lutescens Pohl
and 50 more.
Sourcesevery claim on this page
- World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
- iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
- Wikidata. common name (P1843), joined on the World Flora Online identifier (P7715). CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-13.
- Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.
We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.