EUPHORBIACEAE SPURGE FAMILY 
GLANDULAR CROTON 
Croton glandulosus L. var. septentrionalis Muell. Arg. 
Most members of the Spurge family live in warm- 
climated countries and contain a milky juice; some of 
them contain an appreciable amount of rubber. A common 
cultivated plant of this 
family is the Castor-oil 
Bean. 
The Glandular Croton 
is found in sandy soil from 
Virginia to Indiana and 
Illinois, south to Florida 
and Texas. It also occurs 
in the West Indies and 
South America. Although 
not common in Illinois, it is 
likely to be found in any of 
the sandy regions of the 
state. 
It is an annual herb, usually dark 
green. The rather slender, more or less 
branched stem grows 8-30 inches high and 
bears the alternate, coarsely toothed leaves, 
each with 2 glands at the base of the blade. 
The imperfect flowers are produced 
from March to late autumn. Each of the 
staminate flowers, in terminal spikes, con- 
sists of a 4-parted calyx, 4 petals, a 4-rayed 
glandular disk and 8 stamens. The pistillate flowers are clustered 
at the base of the staminate spike. Each has § sepals, very 
rudimentary petals and a pistil with 3 styles whose stigmas are 
2-cleft. The fruit is a 3-seeded capsule. 
The Three-seeded Mercury, Acalypha virginica L., is a mem- 
ber of this family common in fields and waste places. The long- 
petioled, ovate leaves are coarsely toothed and they often turn 
purplish. Staminate and pistillate flowers are in the same axillary 
cluster and are subtended by a large, palmately lobed bract. 
The capsule is decidedly 3-lobed and the seeds are nearly smooth. 
The plant ranges from Nova Scotia to Minnesota, south to Florida 
and Texas. It blooms from July to September. 
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