Codiaeum variegatum

Croton ( Codiaeum variegatum )

The croton ( Codiaeum variegatum ), also known as Croton, miracle flower shrub or cancer, is a plant which belongs to the genus Codiaeum within the family of Euphorbiaceae ( Euphorbiaceae ). Many varieties are ornamental in tropical parks and gardens, as well as in rooms.

Description

Codiaeum variegatum is a tropical, evergreen, woody plant that usually grows as a shrub and can reach heights of growth of up to 3 meters. The parts of the plant contain a colorless, slightly toxic milky sap. The smooth branches of the leaf scars are clearly visible.

The change-constant leaves are divided into petiole and leaf blade. The petiole has a length of 0.2 to 2.5 cm. The thinly leathery, hairless leaf blade is very different shaped and colored depending on the variety. With a length of 5 to 30 cm and a width of ( 0.3 ) from 0.5 to 8 cm, the leaf blade can easily be divided up, while she can, for example, linear, linear- lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate, obovate spathulate, fiddle shaped or indented with a wedge shape to blunt and pointed or rounded Spreitenbasis Spreitenspitze. The leaf colors range from green to yellow to purple and there are very different patterns possible.

The flowering period extends generally from September to October. Codiaeum variegatum is monoecious getrenntgeschlechtig ( monoecious ). They form pendant, slender, simple, racemose inflorescences, which have a length of 8 to 30 cm and contain many flowers. The petite stalked male flowers are fünfzählig double perianth. Your five sepals are larger than the petals. The discus has five glands. They contain many (20 to 30) stamens. The approximately thick -stalked female flowers have yellowish, ovate - triangular sepals. Your disk is annular. In the female flowers three carpels are fused to a dreikammerigen ovary, with only one ovule per chamber. The three pens are recurved.

Those with a diameter of about 9 mm, almost spherical, slightly flattened fruit capsules are bald. The fruits usually ripen from November to December. The seeds have a diameter of about 6 mm.

All plant parts are poisonous.

Dissemination

Natural deposits are found in: Malaysia, Bali, Irian Jaya, Java, the Sunda Islands, the Moluccas, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Australia only in Queensland, in the Fiji Islands and Vanuatu.

System

This species was in 1753 under the name Croton variegatus ( there ' variegatum ' ) first published by Carl Linnaeus in Species Plantarum, 2, S. 1199. It was variegatum under the name Codiaeum in 1824 by Georg Eberhard Rumpf for type species of the genus Codiaeum in Adrien Henri Laurent de Jussieu: De Euphorbiacearum Generibus Medicisque earumdem viribus tentamen, tabulis Aeneid illustratum 18, 80, 111, Plate 9, f 30 more synonyms for Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Rumph. ex A.Juss. are: Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Blume, Codiaeum variegatum var pictum ( Lodd. ) waste. Arg, Croton pictus Lodd ..

The Croton formerly belonged to the genus Croton, hence the German trivial name. The genus name comes from the Greek Codiaeum: kodeia for " head of the poppy ."

Varieties:

Codiaeum variegatum var moluccanum ( Decne. ) waste. Arg
Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Rumph. ex A.Juss. var variegatum ( Syn: Codiaeum variegatum var pictum ( Hook. ) Waste Arg. )

Ornamental plant

Of this type, there are many varieties. Throughout the tropics, the varieties are planted in parks and gardens. In cooler climates, it serves as a houseplant. The varieties are also well suited for hydroponics. Important for the care, the more light the plant gets, the more colorful the leaves. The buntlaubigen varieties can only be obtained by vegetative propagation. Codiaeum not tolerate drops in temperature and should not be placed too close for good ventilation to Krankheitsvorbeuge.

Pictures

So beautifully colored leaves are just at a nursing outdoors or greenhouse.

Narrow variety

Male inflorescence

Female inflorescence

Young fruits

Capsules ( seeds)

Swell

Bingtao Li & Michael G. Gilbert: Codiaeum in the Flora of China, Volume 11, 2008, p 268: Codiaeum variegatum - Online.

Rosids Ovary (botany) Maluku Islands Species Plantarum Croton (plant) Agricultural Research Service

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