598 
Indigenous  Species  of  Croton. 
Am.  jour^  Piiarm., 
Dec,  1885. 
None  of  the  herbaceous  species  of  Croton  appear  to  have  been 
medicinally  employed.  In  some  older  works  Croton  chamsedrifolius^ 
Lamarck,  a  perennial  herb  growing  in  the  West  Indian  Islands,  is. 
mentioned  as  being  used  as  a  vulnerary  and  in  various  forms  of 
tumors.  But  the  plant  has  been  transferred  to  another  genus,  and  is 
now  known  as  Acalypha  chamsedrifolia,  Be  Candolle,  while  the  Cro- 
ton chamsedrifolius,  Grisebach,  is  an  annual  plant,  and  does  not  seem 
to  have  been  used  in  medicine. 
Croton  tinctorius,  Linne,  an  annual  plant  of  the  Mediterranean 
region,  has  likewise  been  transferred  to  another  genus ;  it  is  now  Cro- 
zophora  tinctoria.  A,  Jussieu,  or  Tournesolia  tinctoria,  Baillon.  It  is 
cultivated  in  France,  the  cultivation  being  confined  to  Grand-Gallar- 
gues,  a  village  in  the  neighborhood  of  Nimes.  The  greenish  juice  in 
contact  with  ammoniacal  liquids  yields  a  kind  of  litmus,  which  turns 
red  by  acids,  but  does  not  become  blue  again  under  the  influence  of 
alkalies.  Paint  rags  are  made  by  dipping  pieces  of  muslin  into  the 
juice  and  exposing  them  to  the  ammoniacal  vapors  arising  from  a 
mixture  of  urine  and  lime,  or  from  horse-dung,  until  the  desired 
color  is  produced.  This  material  is  stated  to  be  mostly  exported  to 
Holland,  where  it  is  used  for  the  coloring  of  cheese  and  of  certain 
liquors. 
Five  or  six  herbaceous  species  are  indigenous  to  the  United  States 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  three  of  which,  all  annuals,  occur  northward 
as  far  as  Illinois  and  Virginia,  while  the  perennial  species  Croton 
maritimum,  Walter,  and  Cr.  argyranthemum,  llichaux,  do  not  appear 
to  extend  north^vard  beyond  South  Carolina.  The  last  named  species  is- 
the  plant,  the  curative  properties  of  which  have  been  referred  to  above. 
The  nearly  simple  root  is  from  2  to  3  inches  long,  about  J  inch  thick 
at  the  neck,  crowned  with  a  broader  irregular  head  formed  from  the 
stem  bases,  of  a  light  gray-brown  color,  and  breaks  with  a  short  non- 
fibrous  fracture,  which  is  whitish  and  shows  a  thickish  bark,  the  inner 
layer  of  which  is  of  a  red  color,  and  a  porous  meditullium  without 
medullary  rays.  The  stem  is  about  12  or  18  inches  high,  branched^ 
rather  firm,  and  the  lower  portion  somewhat  woody ;  the  leaves  are 
alternate,  about  1  or  IJ  inch  long,  with  petioles  of  f  to  |  inch  in 
length,  firm  and  thick,  oval,  oblong  or  obovate  in  shape,  entire  on  the 
margin,  rather  obtuse  at  the  apex,  and  narrowed  at  the  base;  the  mid- 
rib is  rather  prominent  on  the  lower  surface ;  but  its  branches  are 
quite  indistinct.    The  flowers  are  of  a  silvery  whiteness  and  form 
