Plant Listings

Croton discolor Willd.

Common Name: No known common name

Family: Euphorbiaceae

Habit: Croton discolor grows as a small to medium shrub up to 2 m in height. The leaves are arranged alternately, oblong to elliptic, to 5 cm in length with an entire margin and cuspidate/mucronate leaf apex. The adaxial and abaxial leaf surfaces are different colors due to differences in pubescence density.

Croton discolor is dioecious, The incomplete, imperfect, actinomorphic flowers are arranged in axillary or terminal racemes. Staminate flowers have 5 unfused, green, ciliate, sepals in the calyx. The corolla has 5 unfused, white petals. There are 12 stamens and no carpel. The carpellate flowers have 5 unfused sepals in the calyx. The corolla has 5 unfused white petals. There are no stamens. The superior ovary has 3 locules. The fruit is a 3-parted capsule.

Habitat: Croton discolor grows on a limestone substrate in Dry Broadleaf Evergreen Formations (Coppice) most typically in Shrublands.

Distribution: Croton discolor occurs in the southern island groupings in the Lucayan Archipelago and the Caribbean region.

Medicinal/Cultural/Economic usage: Croton discolor is not known to be used medicinally in the Lucayan Archipelago.