Flora of North America species comparison

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Croton lindheimeri

goatweed, Lindheimer's hogwort, woolly croton
Habit Herbs, annual, 5–20 dm, monoecious, stems, leaves, and buds with yellow-brown (ochraceous) pubescence when young, becoming glabrate.
Stems

branching distally, stellate-hairy.
Leaves

not clustered;

stipules linear, 0–5 mm;

petiole 1.5–7 cm, glands absent at apex;

blade ovate-lanceolate, 3–7 × 1–3 cm, base cordate to rounded or subcordate, margins entire, apex acute, abaxial surface pale green, not appearing brown-dotted, no stellate hairs with brown centers, densely stellate-hairy, adaxial surface greener, more sparsely hairy.
Inflorescences

bisexual, racemes, 1.5–3 cm, staminate flowers 8–15, pistillate flowers 2–7.
Pedicels

staminate 0.5–3 mm, pistillate 0–1 mm.
Staminate flowers

sepals (4–)5, 1.5–2 mm, abaxial surface stellate-hairy;

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

stamens 9–13.
Pistillate flowers

sepals 7–8, equal, 5–7 mm, margins entire, apex straight to slightly incurved, abaxial surface yellowish woolly-tomentose;

petals 0;

ovary 3-locular;

styles 3, 3–4 mm, 2 times 2-fid, terminal segments 12.
Capsules

6–8 × 8–9 mm, smooth;

columella tipped with 3-pronged grappling hooklike appendage.
Seeds

4–5 × 4–4.5 mm, shiny.
2n

= 20.

Croton lindheimeri
Phenology Flowering May–Dec.
Habitat Old pastures, forest openings, bottomlands, fence rows, disturbed areas.
Elevation 0–300 m. (0–1000 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; AR; FL; GA; LA; MO; MS; SC; TN; TX
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Croton lindheimeri is very similar to C. capitatus, and the two can sometimes be found growing together in northeastern Texas. Croton lindheimeri can be distinguished by its more ochraceous pubescence on young growth, consistently acute leaf tips, somewhat more elongated pistillate part of the raceme, and pistillate sepal tips that do not recurve after anthesis. Croton lindheimeri was reported from Indiana, adventive on ballast in 1898, and from Kansas based on a single 1883 collection from Miami County, but apparently did not become established in either state.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 218.
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. heptalon, C. humilis, C. incanus, C. leucophyllus, 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 Pilinophytum lindheimeri, C. capitatus var. lindheimeri
Name authority (Engelmann & A. Gray) Alph. Wood: Class-book Bot. ed. s.n.(b), 631. (1861)
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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