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Codiaeum variegatum
In Singapore: Croton, Garden Croton, Puding, Joseph's Coat, Variegated Croton, Variegated Laurel, Codiaeum, 洒金榕, 变叶木 (Naturalised in Singapore)
Garden croton is an evergreen tropical shrub grown for its brightly coloured, leathery leaves. It needs warmth, bright light to show its colours, and protection from cold.
Codiaeum variegatum, commonly known as croton or variegated croton amongst many other names, is a species of plant in the Euphorbiaceae family. Initially described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, its native range is from Java east to Fiji, and from the Philippines south to Queensland, Australia. It is widely cultivated and has been introduced to many other countries.
In tropical climates, crotons make attractive hedges and potted patio specimens, valued for their striking foliage. They only survive outdoors where temperatures do not normally drop below 10 to 13 °C (50 to 55 °F) in winter; colder temperatures can cause leaf loss. In colder climates, the plants are grown in greenhouses or as house plants. The cultivated garden crotons are usually smaller than the wild plant, rarely over 1.8 m (5.9 ft) tall, and occur in a wide diversity of leaf shapes and colours. They are sometimes grouped under the name Codiaeum variegatum var. pictum (Lodd.) Müll. Arg., though this is not botanically distinct from the species and usually treated as a synonym of it.
As with the majority of the spurges, when broken or cut, every part of C. variegatum will "bleed" and drip a milky, caustic sap, eventually drying into a latex-like consistency. Care must be taken to avoid touching this latex, such as only handling the plant while wearing sufficiently protective gloves, as well as eye goggles or sunglasses. Generally, small, inadvertent drops of the sap on one's hands or skin will cause no ill effect in the majority of the population, provided it is promptly washed off using soapy, warm water—this may even be followed with the use of a hand sanitizer or even a mildly diluted isopropyl alcohol. However, direct contact between the sap of Euphorbiaceae and the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, genitals, or any open wound, is strongly discouraged and may result in unknown side effects.
The natural range of the variegated croton is Malesia (Borneo, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Maluku, the Philippines, Sulawesi), Papuasia (Bismarck Archipelago, New Guinea, the Solomon Islands), Queensland, and the Pacific islands of Fiji, the Santa Cruz Islands and Vanuatu. It is now found much further afield due to it being widely cultivated.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Codiaeum variegatum by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
