Home | > | List of families | > | Euphorbiaceae | > | Croton | > | leuconeurus |
Synonyms: |
Croton barotsensis Gibbs Croton seineri Pax |
Common names: | Barotse Croton (English) |
Frequency: | |
Status: | Native |
Description: |
Shrub or tree, often multi-stemmed and with drooping branches. Bark smooth blotched grey and white. Leaves elliptic-ovate, 3-14 cm long, single-veined from the base, densely stellate hairy on both surfaces when young, becoming more or less hairless above when older; margins glandular crenate-serrate; petiole 1.5-6 cm long with 2 orange discoid glands at the apex. Leaves often turning orange to red before falling. Inflorescences 6-20 cm long, terminal on main branches or short lateral shoots. Flower mostly unisexual, sometimes on the same tree or on different trees, creamy or greenish-yellow, scented. Fruit subglobose or obovoid, 9-14 mm long, slightly 3-lobed, scruffy stellate-hairy, yellowish to buff-coloured when ripe, edible. |
Notes: | Similar to Croton megalobotrys but distinguished by the leaves that clearly have a single midrib and are not three-veined from the base. Also the inflorescences are longer and the fruit is much smaller and densely clustered. |
Derivation of specific name: | leconeurus: white-nerved |
Habitat: | In riverine vegetation, often overhanging the water, on sandy banks and in swampy river margins. |
Flowering time: | |
Worldwide distribution: | Sudan, DRC (Kasai, Shaba), western Tanzania, Zambia, Angola, Caprivi-Namibia, northern Botswana and western Zimbabwe. |
Growth form(s): | |
Endemic status: | |
Red data list status: | |
Insects associated with this species: | |
Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
Content last updated: | Friday 5 February 2016 |
Literature: |
Coates Palgrave, K. (revised and updated by Meg Coates Palgrave) (2002). Trees of Southern Africa 3rd edition. Struik, South Africa Page 494. Curtis, B.A. & Mannheimer, C.A. (2005). Tree Atlas of Namibia National Botanic Research Institute, Windhoek Page 332. Drummond, R.B. (1975). A list of trees, shrubs and woody climbers indigenous or naturalised in Rhodesia. Kirkia 10(1) Page 252. As Croton leuconeurus Golding, J.S. (ed.) (2002). Zimbabwe Plant Red Data List. Southern African Plant Red Data Lists. SABONET 14 Page 164. Mannheimer, C. & Curtis B. (2009). Le Roux and Müller's Field Guide to the Trees and Shrubs of Namibia Macmillan Education, Windhoek, Namibia. Pages 256 - 257. (Includes a picture). Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Phiri, P.S.M. (2005). A Checklist of Zambian Vascular Plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 32 Page 48. Radcliffe-Smith, A. (1996). Euphorbiaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(4) Pages 289 - 291. (Includes a picture). Setshogo, M.P. (2005). Preliminary checklist of the plants of Botswana. Sabonet Report no. 37. Sabonet, Pretoria and Gaborone Page 56. Timberlake, J.R. & Childes, S.L. (2004). Biodiversity of the Four Corners Area: Technical Reviews Volume Two (Chapter 5-15) Appendix 5-1: Plant Checklist Occasional Publications in Biodiversity 15 Page 207. |
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