Flora of North America species comparison

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Croton punctatus

beach tea, gulf croton, hierba de jabalí
Habit Shrubs, 3–10 dm, monoecious or sometimes appearing dioecious.
Stems

trichotomously branching, stellate-hairy to stellate-lepidote.
Leaves

not clustered;

stipules absent;

petiole 1–4 cm, 1/2 to equal blade length, glands absent at apex;

blade broadly elliptic to suborbiculate, 2–5 × 1.5–4 cm, much less than 2 times as long as wide, base rounded to truncate, margins entire, apex obtuse to rounded, abaxial surface pale grayish green, stellate-lepidote, adaxial surface slightly darker green, stellate-lepidote.
Inflorescences

unisexual or bisexual, racemes, 1–4 cm, staminate flowers 3–7, pistillate flowers 1–3.
Pedicels

staminate 2–4 mm, pistillate 0–1 mm.
Staminate flowers

sepals 5–6, 2.5 mm, abaxial surface stellate-lepidote;

petals 0;

stamens 10–13.
Pistillate flowers

sepals 5, equal, 3–3.5 mm, margins entire, apex incurved, abaxial surface stellate-lepidote;

petals 0;

ovary 3-locular;

styles 3, 1–2 mm, multifid, terminal segments 12–24.
Capsules

5–8 × 7–9 mm, smooth;

columella 3-winged.
Seeds

4.5–6 × 3.7–4.5 mm, dull.
2n

= 28.

Croton punctatus
Phenology Flowering year-round.
Habitat Beaches, dunes.
Elevation 0–20 m. (0–100 ft.)
Distribution
from FNA
AL; FL; GA; LA; MS; NC; SC; TX; e Mexico; Central America; West Indies; n South America
[WildflowerSearch map]
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

A report of Croton punctatus from Pennsylvania apparently was based on a transient appearance on ballast (E. T. Wherry et al. 1979).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Source FNA vol. 12, p. 222.
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. lindheimeri, C. lindheimerianus, C. linearis, C. michauxii, C. monanthogynus, C. parksii, C. pottsii, C. sancti-lazari, C. setigerus, C. soliman, C. sonorae, C. suaveolens, C. texensis, C. wigginsii
Synonyms C. disjunctiflorus, C. maritimus, C. plukenetii
Name authority Jacquin: Collectanea 1: 166. (1787) — (as puntatum)
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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