/kroht"n/ , n.
1. any of numerous chiefly tropical plants constituting the genus Croton, of the spurge family, several species of which, as C. tiglium, have important medicinal properties.
2. (among florists) any plant of the related genus Codiaeum (or Phyllaurea ) cultivated for its ornamental foliage.
[ 1745-55; krotón a tick, also the castor-oil plant, which has berries likened to ticks ]