FlowerPotNursery Variegated Croton Codiaeum variegatum 4" Pot

Codiaeum variegatum (fire croton, garden croton, or variegated croton; syn. Croton variegatum L.) is a species of plant in the genus Codiaeum, which is a member of the family Euphorbiaceae. It was described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia, and the western Pacific Ocean islands, growing in open forests and scrub.

The garden crotons should not be confused with Croton, a cosmopolitan genus also in the Euphorbiaceae, containing more than 700 species of herbs, shrubs and trees.

It is a tropical, evergreen, monoecious shrub growing to 9.8 ft tall and has large, thick, leathery, shiny evergreen leaves, alternately arranged, 2.0-11.8 in long and 0.20-3.15 in broad. The leaf blades can, for example, be ruler-lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate inverted, ovate spatulate, or violin-shaped and coloured green, yellow, or purple in various patterns, depending on the variety. The inflorescences are long racemes, 3.1-11.8 in long, with male and female flowers on separate inflorescences; the male flowers are white with five small petals and 20-30 stamens, pollens are oval approximately 52x32 microns in size. The female flowers yellowish, with no petals. The flowering period is usually in early autumn. The fruit is a capsule 0.35 in in diameter, containing three seeds that are 0.24 in in diameter. When cut, stems bleed a milky sap like many of the Euphorbiaceae.

Give credit where credit is due: Wikipedia 2021