Oil-yielding

Witness the latest entry in the high-stakes race for alternative sources of fuel: a tree that produces oil.

Not petroleum, that is, but an oil that can be used to make biodiesel.

Taylor Jones/The Post Jatropha curcas Jatropha curcas: The energy tree Origin: Native to Central America. There are 87 known varieties in Florida. HEIGHT: UP TO 20 FEET. OIL YIELD:AS MUCH AS 600 TO 1,000 GALLONS PER ACRE A YEAR. GROWN FOR BIOFUELS IN COUNTRIES INCLUDING GHANA, BRAZIL AND GUATEMALA.

And entrepreneurs see it as a future cash crop for Florida.

"Last year, soy oil was $1.50 a gallon and nobody was looking at us. Now, it's $3 a gallon and everyone is looking" at jatropha as a future biofuel source, said Paul Dalton, a Washington-based attorney who is involved with growing the tree - Jatropha curcas - in Florida, India and elsewhere.

Oil from this variety of jatropha has attracted more attention as prices for other biodiesel oils such as soy, palm and canola have skyrocketed.

Dalton, chief executive officer of Alexandria, Va.-based My Dream Fuel LLC, has planted 1.26 million jatropha seedlings from varieties specially selected and cloned for commercialization on 12 acres south of LaBelle. Last year, he sold out of 12,000 plants in four days.

Beginning May 15, this year's seedlings will go out to citrus growers looking for a replacement for groves ravaged by canker and greening diseases and others wanting to keep their agricultural exemption.

"It is not a get-rich-quick scheme at all," Dalton said. "It's five years before they get to 100 percent production. In two years, they will start making money. That is a lot faster than citrus.

"Any biodiesel refiner will purchase it in a heartbeat. At current price levels, growers will make over $2,000 an acre."

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