Croton californicus  Muell.   Euphorbiaceae   Spurge Family   Native   California Croton

                                         August Photo

Plant Characteristics:  Perennial herb, usually monoecious, branching erect or spreading; stems 2-10 dm. long, very slender, +/- hoary with stellate canescence; lvs. alternate, entire, blades 0.5-2.0 cm. wide, greener above; petioles less than 1 cm. long; male fls. corymbose in anthesis, the racemes becoming 10-15 mm. long; calyx 1-2 mm. long; pistillate calyx 2-3 mm. long, the female racemes few-fld.; styles 2-2.5 mm. long; caps. 5-7 mm. long; seeds 3-4 mm. long, black or mottled.

Habitat:  Sandy places, such as dunes and beaches, below 4000 ft; Coastal Strand; Ventura Co. to L. Calif.  March-Oct.

Name:  Greek, kroton, a tick, the old name of Castor-bean, because of appearance of seeds.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 406).  Californicus, of California (Dale 13).  Latin, tenuis, thin, slender.  (Jaeger 258).

General:  Occasional on the bench below Eastbluff, particularly at the northerly end.  Photographed there.  Prior to the 1993 Jepson Manual, this species and var. tenuis were considered two separate species.  The two varieties occur together and may even be intertwined but do not seem to hybridize. Gordon Marsh at the UCI Museum of Systematic Biology made the comment that it would be an interesting masters study to determine why the two variations do not hybridize.  (my comments).         Delfina Cuero, a Southern Diegueno or Kumeyaay Indian made the following comments about Croton californicus in her autobiography.  “Gather the leaves and flowers and whole plant, boil it and use the liquid to wash eyes, especially for pink eye.”  (Shipek 88).        Mashed and cooked stems and leaves were used by the Indians as poultices for earaches; also tea from the stems and leaves is said by some to induce abortion.  (Heizer and Elsasser 131).       Moth larvae of the genus Cydia mostly are seed feeders and include the codling moth, the “worm” in apples, and the Mexican “jumping bean” which is a carpel of a Croton that when warmed, hops about due to the movements of the larvae inside.  Powell, Ferry A. “Lepidopteran Caterpillars Feeding on California Native Plants” (FREMONTIA, A Journal of the California Native Plant Society Vol. 30 Nos. 3-4 July-Oct. 2002 p. 5-14.).       Perhaps 600 spp. of warm or hot regions; all continents but Europe.  (Munz, Flora So. Calif. 406).       Variety tenuis and var. californicus  are now combined and called C. californicus.   Hickman, Ed. 572.       I had identified both Croton californicus var. tenuis and Croton californicus var. californicus prior to the publication of the Jepson Manual in 1993.  I have combined the two varieties to match Jepson. (my comments).

Text Ref:  Hickman, Ed. 572; Munz, Flora So. Calif. 408; Roberts 22.

Photo Ref:  Mar-April 88 # 22A,23A; June 88 # 4A,5A,6A..

Identity: by R. De Ruff, confirmed by F. Roberts.

First Found: April 1988.

Computer Ref:  Plant Data 28, 345.

Have plant specimen.

Last edit 5/6/05.  

                           April Photo                                                                                April Photo