Flora of North America species comparison

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Croton heptalon

woolly croton
Habit Herbs, annual, 5–15 dm, monoecious; stems, leaves, and buds whitish-hairy when young, becoming glabrate.
Stems

well branched distally, stellate-hairy.
Leaves

not clustered;

stipules linear, 2–7 mm;

petiole 0.5–5 cm, glands absent at apex;

blade ovate-lanceolate, 3–10 × 1–5 cm, base cordate to rounded, margins entire, apex acute, abaxial surface pale green, not appearing brown-dotted, no stellate hairs with brown centers, adaxial surface darker green, both stellate-hairy.
Inflorescences

bisexual, racemes, 2–4 cm, staminate flowers 3–10, pistillate flowers 4–8.
Pedicels

staminate 2–4 mm, pistillate 1–2 mm.
Staminate flowers

sepals (4–)5, 1–2 mm, abaxial surface stellate-hairy;

petals 5, linear-oblong-lanceolate, 1–1.5 mm, abaxial surface stellate-hairy;

stamens 9–12.
Pistillate flowers

sepals 7–8, subequal, 3–6 mm, margins entire, apex straight to slightly incurved, abaxial surface whitish appressed-tomentose;

petals 0;

ovary 3-locular;

styles 3, 3–4 mm, 4-fid, terminal segments 12.
Capsules

6–8 × 6–7 mm, smooth;

columella tipped with 3-pronged grappling hooklike appendage.
Seeds

4–5 × 2–2.5 mm, shiny.

Croton heptalon
Phenology Flowering May–Dec.
Habitat Beaches, coastal dunes, roadsides.
Elevation 0–50 m. (0–200 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; e Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Morphological differences among Croton heptalon and its multifid-styled relatives in sect. Heptallon, especially C. capitatus and C. lindheimeri, can be quite subtle. In general, C. heptalon can be distinguished from C. capitatus by its more elongate pistillate part of the inflorescence, non-recurving sepal tips in the pistillate flowers, and more cordate leaf bases on larger basal leaves. Whitish pubescence on its young growth and styles that branch once into four terminal segments distinguish C. heptalon from C. lindheimeri.

Croton muelleri J. M. Coulter, which is an illegitimate name, pertains here.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 217.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Croton
Sibling taxa
C. alabamensis, C. argenteus, C. argyranthemus, C. californicus, C. capitatus, C. ciliatoglandulifer, C. cortesianus, C. coryi, C. dioicus, C. elliottii, C. fruticulosus, C. glandulosus, 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 Oxydectes heptalon, C. albinoides, C. capitatus var. albinoides, C. engelmannii var. albinoides, C. muelleri var. albinoides, Heptallon aromaticum
Name authority (Kuntze) B. W. van Ee & P. E. Berry: Syst. Bot. 35: 159. (2010)
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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