Delightful crotons
THE CROTON’S dazzling gold, orange, and red leaves add a blaze of colour to wherever they are, whether indoors or outdoors. Crotons are a small evergreen shrub, and can reach a height of 5-6 feet. The leaves are leathery, and start out green, but gradually change colour as they mature.
Very popular among local gardeners and horticulturalists, the croton is a species of plant in the genus, Codiaeum,  which is a member of the family, Euphorbiaceae, established in 1737 by Carl Linnaeus,  a Swedish  physician, zoologist and botanist.
They were described and introduced to Europeans by Georg Eberhard Rumphius (baptized ca. November 1, 1627 – June 15, 1702), a German-born botanist employed by the Dutch East India Company.
Crotons are often subdivided by their leaf type: Curling, twisted, oak leaf, narrow, broad, oval, etc!
The plant is native to southern India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the western Pacific Ocean islands, growing in open forests and scrub.
In tropical climates such as ours, it comes in many shapes and colours, from yellow, orange, red, green and purple-red, and is bred for its foliage.
Depending on the cultivar, the leaves may be deeply lobed or crinkled, and variegated with green, white, purple, orange, yellow, red or pink.
The colour patterns may follow the veins, the margins or be in blotches on the leaf.
Crotons   make attractive hedges and potted patio specimens, and are valued for their striking foliage and for adding colour, whether in a dish, garden, on a porch or in landscaping.
Crotons are easily propagated through stem cuttings; they do not grow well from seed, as the plant is unstable, and the offspring will not resemble the parent.
Only cuttings will produce a plant that is identical to the parent.
Croton oil or the sap from the plant is a violent purgative, and is generally considered unsafe for such use.
But the cultivation  of the croton plant is well worth the effort, because, as many plant lovers testify, the well-grown croton is an explosion of colour in or outdoors.