Croton gratissimus

Croton gratissimus
Dormant flower buds
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Rosids
Order:	Malpighiales
Family:	Euphorbiaceae
Genus:	Croton
Species:	C. gratissimus
Binomial name
Croton gratissimus Burch.

Croton gratissimus is a tropical African shrub or small tree with corky bark, growing to 8 m and belonging to the family of Euphorbiaceae or spurge. Young twigs are slender and angular and covered in silver- and rust-coloured scales. The species occurs in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya, Uganda, Cote D'Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Angola, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe and the northern parts of South Africa, ^[1] and is often found in rocky terrain.

The crushed, slender-petioled leaves are pleasingly and distinctively fragrant with an aromatic oil reminiscent of Sweet Flag. The leaves are strikingly silver on the under surface. The inflorescence is a yellow-flowered raceme up to 10cm long and borne terminally. Rust-coloured flower buds, which are present throughout winter, open after the first rains. ^[2] The fruit is a 3-lobed capsule, about 10 mm in diameter and densely scaly. The tree's bark yields the toxalbumin crotin.

The intrepid naturalist William John Burchell came across Croton gratissimus for the first time on 19 June 1812. He had camped at a spring called Klipfontein "embosomed in rocky mountains". These 'mountains' are the hills immediately above the present-day Olifantshoek. He described the plant as "a handsome bushy shrub from four to seven foot high, closely resembling a species peculiar to Madagascar" - the species he had in mind being Croton farinosum. His Latin description praises it as 'frutex pulcherrimus' - 'most beautiful shrub'. ^[3]

The Bantu use this species for a host of medicinal purposes. It is traditionally used as a febrifuge, styptic, cathartic, and a remedy for dropsy, indigestion, pleurisy, uterine disorders, rheumatism and intercostal neuralgia. ^[4]

Croton is a genus of some 600 widely distributed tropical and sub-tropical species. The name 'croton' is Greek for a sheep-tick to which the seed bears a resemblance.

Related articles

• Croton oil

References

1. ^ Germplasm Resources Information Network
2. ^ http://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/species.php?species_id=134730
3. ^ Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa - William J. Burchell (1824)
4. ^ Medicinal and Poisonous Plants of Southern and Eastern Africa - Watt & Brandwijk (1962)

External links

• Tree of the Year