Flora of North America species comparison

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Croton leucophyllus var. leucophyllus

Croton leucophyllus
Photo is of parent taxon

two-color croton
Habit Herbs, annual, 1–3(–5) dm, monoecious.
Stems

dichotomously branched throughout, stellate-hairy.

Leaves

not clustered;

stipules subulate, 1–2.5 mm;

petiole 0.5–3 cm, glands absent at apex;

blade ovate to ovate-oblong, 1–2.5(–5) × 0.5–1.5(–3) cm, base rounded to cuneate, margins entire, apex rounded to subacute, abaxial surface pale green, not appearing brown-dotted, no stellate hairs with brown centers, densely stellate-hairy, adaxial surface slightly darker green, sparsely stellate-hairy.

Inflorescences

bisexual, racemes, 0.5–2 cm, staminate flowers 1–15, pistillate flowers 3–6.

Pedicels

staminate 1.5–2 mm, pistillate 2–2.5 mm.

Staminate flowers

sepals 5, 0.8–1 mm, abaxial surface stellate-hairy;

petals 5, linear-oblong-lanceolate, 0.8–1 mm, abaxial surface glabrous except margins villous;

stamens 7–10.

Pistillate flowers

sepals 5, unequal, 3 outer 5–7 mm, 2 inner 1–2 mm, margins entire, apex incurved, abaxial surface stellate;

petals 0;

ovary 3-locular;

styles 3, 1–2 mm, 2-fid to base, terminal segments 6.

Capsules

4–5 mm diam., smooth;

columella apex with 3 short recurved lobes.

Seeds

3.5–4 × 1.8–2 mm, shiny.

Croton leucophyllus var. leucophyllus

Croton leucophyllus
Phenology Flowering Jun–Nov.
Habitat Bottomlands, floodplains.
Elevation 0–100 m. (0–300 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
TX; Mexico (Coahuila, Nuevo León, Sonora, Tamaulipas)
from FNA
TX; ne Mexico
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Variety leucophyllus is known in the flora area from at least Brewster County southeast to Cameron and Nueces counties. Croton leucophyllus var. trisepalis A. M. Ferguson (C. palmeri var. ovalis Fernald) differs from the typical variety in having the two inner sepals abortive in the pistillate flowers so that they appear to have only three sepals. Variety trisepalis is found on shale plains in the Mexican states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, and may be expected in nearby Texas.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Varieties 2 (1 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 218. FNA vol. 12, p. 218.
Parent taxa Euphorbiaceae > Croton > Croton leucophyllus 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. heptalon, C. humilis, C. incanus, 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
Subordinate taxa
C. leucophyllus var. leucophyllus
Synonyms Oxydectes leucophylla
Name authority unknown Müller Arg.: Linnaea 34: 139. (1865)
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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