Croton

croton

, in botany

croton (krōˈtən), any of several species of Codiaeum that are widely cultivated as ornamentals and houseplants. The most popular species is C. variegatum, which has many cultivated forms of highly colored variegated leaves. Croton is also used as the common name for all species of the genus Croton, some of which are used as medicinals. These include C. tiglium, the source of croton oil, a purgative, and “sangre de grado,” C. lechleri, an important folk medicine in western Amazonia. C. megalocarpus, a tree of E and central Africa that has historically been grown for shade, firewood, and fence posts, is being explored as a source of biofuel; the oil cake remaining after pressing the seeds for oil may be used for animal feed. Both Croton and Codiaeum are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Euphorbiales, family Euphorbiaceae.

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The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Croton

 

(modern Italian, Crotone), an ancient Greek city in southern Italy. It was founded at the end of the eighth century B.C. Pythagoras, who founded his school in Croton, lived there in the last third of the sixth century B.C. In 510 B.C., the inhabitants of Croton destroyed the wealthy neighboring city of Sybaris. During the Second Punic War (218–201 B.C.), Croton was occupied by Hannibal; it was later seized by Rome and turned into a Roman colony (194 B.C.).

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Croton

 

a genus of plants of the family Euphorbiaceae. They are monoecious or dioecious trees and shrubs; some species are herbs. They have alternate leaves, which are almost always pubescent. The flowers are in apical or axillary racemes. There are over 700 species, distributed in the tropics and, less frequently, subtropics of both hemispheres. The purging croton (Croton tiglium) is widely known. It is a low evergreen tree or shrub, which grows in tropical Asia and is cultivated in many countries. Croton oil is obtained from its extremely poisonous seeds. The species C. eluteria and C. cascarilla are sources of cascarilla, a spicy, aromatic bark used in medicine. Several other species, including C. draco, yield valuable resins. Sometimes the species Codiaeum variegatum, an ornamental of the same family, is called croton.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.