|Jepson Flora Project: Jepson Interchange|
|TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL (1993)||
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Jepson Interchange (more information)
©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California
For up-to-date information about California vascular plants, visit the Jepson eFlora.
Annual, perennial herb, shrub, tree, vine, monoecious or dioecious
Stem generally branched, sometimes fleshy or spiny
Leaves generally simple, alternate or opposite, generally stipuled, petioled; blade entire, toothed, or palmately lobed
Inflorescence: cyme, panicle, raceme, spike; flowers sometimes in clusters (dense, enclosed by involucre, flower-like in Chamaesyce, Euphorbia ), terminal or axillary
Flower unisexual, ± radial; sepals generally 35, free or fused; petals generally 0; stamens 1many, free or filaments fused; ovary superior, chambers 14, styles free or fused, simple or lobed
Fruit: generally capsule
Seeds 12 per chamber; seed scar appendage sometimes present, pad- to dome-like
Genera in family: 300 genera, 7500 species: ± worldwide especially tropical; some cultivated (Aleurites , tung oil; Euphorbia subsp.; Hevea , rubber; Ricinus )
Reference: [Webster 1967 J Arnold Arbor 48:303430]
Many species ± highly TOXIC.
Species in genus: 1 sp
Etymology: (Greek: solitary fruit)
Recent taxonomic note: *This genus now treated as Croton. [Webster 1992 Novon 2:269273]
Annual < 2 dm, < 8 dm wide, mound-like, monoecious; sap clear
Stem much-branched from base, spreading to ascending
Leaves simple, cauline, alternate; stipules vestigial; petiole 15 cm; blade 16 cm, ovate, base obtuse to wedge-shaped, margin entire, densely soft stellate-hairy, 3-veined, veins raised
Staminate inflorescence: cyme, terminal; pedicel 23 mm
Pistillate inflorescence axillary, below staminate inflorescence; flowers 13
Staminate flower: receptacle finely bristly; sepals 56; petals 0; stamens 610, free, exserted, filaments 1.52 mm; nectary 0
Pistillate flower: sepals and petals 0; glands below ovary 45; ovary 1-chambered, puberulent, style slender
Fruit ± 4 mm diam
Seed 1, 34 mm, smooth or ± ridged; scar not appendaged
Ecology: Dry, open, often disturbed areas
Elevation: < 1000 m.
Bioregional distribution: California Floristic Province, w Desert
Distribution outside California: to Washington
Flowering time: MayOct
Seeds eaten by birds;
herbage TOXIC to livestock, especially in hay
Recent taxonomic note: *Croton setigerus Hook.
Horticultural information: SUN, DRN: 7, 8, 9, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24; rather INV.
|YOU CAN HELP US make sure that our distributional information is correct and current. If you know that a plant occurs in a wild, reproducing state in a Jepson bioregion NOT highlighted on the map, please contact us with that information. Please realize that we cannot incorporate range extensions without access to a voucher specimen, which should (ultimately) be deposited in an herbarium. You can send the pressed, dried collection (with complete locality information indicated) to us (e-mail us for details) or refer us to an accessioned herbarium specimen. Non-occurrence of a plant in an indicated area is difficult to document, but we will especially value your input on those types of possible errors (see automatic conversion of distribution data to maps).|