I 



EUPHORBIACEAE— CROTON 591 



1. Croton L. 



Stellate, pubescent herbs or shrubs ; leaves generally alternate, occasionally 

 with glands at the base of the blade; flowers spicate or racemose, the stamin- 

 ate above ; calyx 4-6 parted ; petals usually present, small or rudimentary, alter- 

 nating with the glands; stamens 5 or more; pistillate flowers with calyx 5-10 

 parted; petals usually wanting; ovary mostly 3-celled, with a single ovule in 

 each cell. 



Croton capitatus Michx. Hogwort 



An annual, dense, soft woolly herb, somewhat glandular, from 1-2 feet 

 high, occasionally branched; leaves entire, lanceolate oblong, with long petioles; 

 sterile flowers with 5-parted calyx and as many glands alternating with the 

 obovate lanceolate petals which are fimbriate; fertile flowers several, capitate 

 or crowned; calyx 7-12 parted; 5 petals wanting; styles twice or thrice forked; 

 seeds gray, smooth. 



Distribution. A common weedy plant from Missouri to Texas ; from New 

 Jersey to Georgia, Iowa and eastern Kansas. 



Fig. 327. Hogwort {Croton capitatus). Suspected of 

 being poisonous. (After A. M. Fergusonn, Rep. Mo. Bot. 

 Garden) 



