Jatropha sp. - hermaphroditic flower

An exceptional male flower with 7 petals and 7+ nectaria - should be 5 petals and 5 nectaria. Not entirely male because it also has a stigma. In Jatropha curcas the occurrance of occasional hermaphroditic flowers is considered evidence of its primitive nature within the genus Jatropha. Of a sample of 142 male flowers, only 7 flowers had 6 petals (4,9%) and 135 flowers had the normal number of 5 petals (95,1%), showing that aberrant numbers of flower parts are much less common in male flowers compared to female flowers.

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