| Synonyms: |
Croton plicatus Vahl |
| Common names: | |
| Frequency: | |
| Status: | Native |
| Description: |
Prostrate or more or less erect, branched annual or perennial herb, up to 50 cm. Most parts densely covered in greyish stellate hairs. Leaves rhombic-ovate, up to 7 × 5 cm with a long petiole, plicate-undulate, especially when young, 3-5-veined from the base with 2 dark purple glands at the base; margin more or less entire or obscurely toothed. Flowers in leaf-opposed or pseudo-axillary inflorescences, covered in stellate hairs, unisexual. Male flowers orange-yellow or pinkish; female flowers, crimson-red, Fruit up to 5 × 9 mm, 3-lobed, densely covered in stellate hairs, reddish or bluish-purple when ripe. |
| Type location: |
Egypt |
| Notes: | |
| Derivation of specific name: | |
| Habitat: | In alluvial soils on floodplains, mudflats and margins of pans. |
| Altitude range: (metres) | |
| Flowering time: | |
| Worldwide distribution: | Throughout tropical Africa to northern SouthAfrica. Also in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and western Arabia. |
| FZ divisions: | T,MS,GI |
| Growth form(s): | |
| Endemic status: | |
| Red data list status: | |
| Insects associated with this species: | |
| Spot characters: | Display spot characters for this species |
| Images last updated: | Monday 24 March 2008 |
| Literature: |
Mapaura, A. & Timberlake, J. (eds) (2004). A checklist of Zimbabwean vascular plants Southern African Botanical Diversity Network Report No. 33 Sabonet, Pretoria and Harare Page 40. Radcliffe-Smith, A. (1996). Euphorbiaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(4) Pages 141 - 143. (Includes a picture). |