Flora of North America species comparison

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Croton cortesianus

Cortez's croton, palillo
Habit Shrubs, 10–30 dm, dioecious.
Stems

di- or trichotomously branched, stellate-hairy, young stems often blackened by fungus.
Leaves

not clustered;

stipules rudimentary;

petiole 1–1.5 cm, 1/6–1/3 leaf blade length, glands absent at apex;

blade narrowly obovate, oblong, elliptic, or lanceolate, 3–10 × 1–5 cm, mostly less than 3.5 times as long as wide, base subacute to rounded, margins minutely denticulate, apex acute or acuminate, abaxial surface light green, densely ochraceous stellate-hispid when young, pale stellate-hairy when mature, adaxial surface darker green, glabrous.
Inflorescences

unisexual, racemes;

staminate 7–20 cm, flowers 10–30;

pistillate 1–5 cm, flowers 8–20(–30).
Pedicels

staminate 0–1 mm, pistillate 0–0.5 mm.
Staminate flowers

sepals 5, 2.5 mm, abaxial surface stellate-hairy;

petals 5, oblong, 3 mm, abaxial surface glabrous except margins ciliate basally;

stamens 12–16.
Pistillate flowers

sepals 5, equal, 1–1.5 mm, margins entire, apex straight to slightly incurved, abaxial surface stellate-hispid;

petals rudimentary;

ovary 3-locular;

styles 3, 4–5 mm, 2-fid, terminal segments 6.
Capsules

5–6 × 4.5–5.5 mm, smooth;

columella apex with 3 rounded, inflated lobes.
Seeds

4–5 × 3–3.5 mm, shiny (with silvery sheen).
2n

= 20.

Croton cortesianus
Phenology Flowering Feb–Oct, possibly year-round.
Habitat Scrub forests.
Elevation 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; e Mexico; se Mexico; Central America
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Croton cortesianus is known in the flora area only from Cameron, Hidalgo, and Starr counties.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 213.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Croton
Sibling taxa
C. alabamensis, C. argenteus, C. argyranthemus, C. californicus, C. capitatus, C. ciliatoglandulifer, C. coryi, C. dioicus, C. elliottii, C. fruticulosus, C. glandulosus, C. heptalon, C. humilis, C. incanus, C. leucophyllus, C. lindheimeri, C. lindheimerianus, C. linearis, C. michauxii, C. monanthogynus, C. parksii, C. pottsii, C. punctatus, C. sancti-lazari, C. setigerus, C. soliman, C. sonorae, C. suaveolens, C. texensis, C. wigginsii
Synonyms C. chichenensis, C. trichocarpus
Name authority Kunth: in A. von Humboldt et al., Nov. Gen. Sp. 2(fol.): 66; 2(qto.): 83. (1817)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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