| Description | Croton (Codiaeum variegatum pictum) is a group of tropical shrubs with very colorful leaves. Not the easiest plant to grow in the interior of houses. |
|---|---|
| Plant Type | Indoor Foliage, Broadleaf evergreen, Site author's observations, Subtropical woody plants |
| Hardiness Zone | 9b-11 |
| Sunlight | The colorful foliage is the selling point for this plant. It needs full to bright light conditions to produce these colorful leaves. |
| Moisture | evenly moist, never dry, above average humidity |
| Growing Media | average house |
| Temperature | In a room where I grow a lot of plants, the Crotons sit on top of the heat vent, in a pebble lined saucer that is always wet. This provides heat and lots of humidity and the plants thrive. |
| Flowers | racemes (inflorescences, male and female on separate racemes, male flowers white with 5 small petals and over 20 stamens, female yellow with no petals (apetalous) |
| Leaves | a wide array of colors in the leaves |
| Stems | woody |
| Roots | fibrous |
| Dimensions | In perfect conditions this plant can become a medium sized shrub. These conditions are hard to duplicate in a house keeping the plants to a smaller size. |
| Maintenance | If the soil gets to dry, or the air to dry or the temperature to cold it will drop its leaves. When it becomes lanky, cut it back using a pruning shears. Has a tendency to attract Spider Mites, especially in dry conditions. Use a pesticide or a mild soap solution and wipe off the upper and lower surfaces of the leaves. |
| Propagation | cuttings |
| Native Site | South India, Ceylon, Malaya, Islands of Indonesia |
| Misc Facts | AKA: Josephs Coat |
| Author's Notes | This is a plant that looks very good when you buy it, and than it can drop all of its leaves when you bring it home. A beautiful plant but can be hard to grow unless the proper conditions are provided. |
| Notes & Reference | #02-Exotic Plant Manual (Alfred Byrd Graf), #18-House Plant Encyclopedia (Nico Vermeulen) |
Cart
