Croton californicus

California croton

Family: Euphorbiaceae · Type: perennial · Native

California croton is a California native perennial found in the Tehachapi Mountains, San Joaquin Valley, central Coast Ranges, southern Coast Ranges, southern California, Santa Catalina Island, Transverse Ranges, Peninsular Ranges, and desert regions in sandy soils, dunes, and washes at elevations below 900 meters. Flowering from April to July, this plant produces small flowers with distinctive stellate (star-shaped) hairs. Growing as a low subshrub to one meter tall with spreading branches, it has a sparse, open structure. Its leaves are elliptic to narrowly oblong, 2 to 5.5 centimeters long with rounded or obtuse tips, supported by petioles 1 to 4 centimeters long. The plant is dioecious, with separate male and female flowers arranged in racemes, featuring 10 to 15 stamens in male flowers and a three-chambered ovary in female flowers.

Habitat: Sandy soils, dunes, washes

Bloom period: Apr-Jul

Elevation: < 900 m

Bioregions: Teh, SnJV, CCo, SCoR, SCo, s ChI (Santa Catalina Island), TR, PR, D

California counties: Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial, Ventura, Los Angeles, Kern, Orange, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Contra Costa, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Inyo, San Benito

Data from The California Species Project — 14,000+ California species with verified data from CNPS, CDFW, USFWS, Jepson eFlora, Cal-IPC, and more.