CROTON

also called Variegated Laurel (Codiaeum variegatum), colourful-leaved plant of the spurge family (Euphorbiaceae). Its numerous varieties of shrubs or small trees with brilliantly coloured, glossy, leathery leaves are much grown as potted plants. Native to Malaysia and the Pacific, the trees reach a height of about 6 m (20 feet). Leaf colours, mostly resulting from anthocyanin in the leaf, occur solid or in combinations of green, yellow, white, orange, pink, red, crimson, and purple. The 1015-centimetre (46-inch) leaves vary from linear and lance-shaped to oval and lobed, depending upon the variety. Another plant of the same family, but of a different genus, the true croton, is purging croton (Croton tiglium), a small tree from the seeds of which croton oil is extracted. It is native to Southeast Asia.