Texas Wildbuds

Croton punctatus

(Gulf Croton)

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Croton punctatus, Mustang Island State Park, Nueces Co. 6654

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Croton punctatus, Mustang Island State Park, Nueces Co. 6658

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Croton punctatus, Mustang Island State Park, Nueces Co. 6650

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Croton punctatus, Mustang Island State Park, Nueces Co. 6660

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Croton punctatus, Mustang Island State Park, Nueces Co. 6659

Scientific Name Croton punctatus USDA PLANTS Symbol CRPU6
Common Name Gulf Croton, Beach Croton ITIS Taxonomic Serial No. 28286
Family Euphorbiaceae (Spurge) SEINet
Reference		 Click Here
Description Habitat: Loose, deep sands in dunes and beaches along the gulf coast.
Plant: Perennial subshrub 4 to 12 inches tall with spreading, branching stems covered with very small hairs.
Leaves: On petioles 0.4 to 1.6 inches long; ovate or elliptic, blades 1.2 to 2 inches long and 0.6 to 1.4 inches wide; margins entire, with rounded to acute tips; both surfaces pale to grey-green and minutely stellate-hairy.
Inflorescence: Usually monoecious (male and female flowers on different plants); small woolly blossoms in very short racemes 0.4-inch long, at the tops of plants and emerging from leaf axils, each flower with no petals and deeply 5-lobed calyx; staminate (male) flowers with about 12 stamens; pistillate (female) flowers with roundish ovaries with three lobes and three stigmas from the tops.
Bloom Period: Nearly all year.
References: "Manual of the Vascular Plants of Texas" by Correll and Johnston and Flora of North America.		 BONAP Distribution Map


Map Color Key		 Texas Status:
Native
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Banner photo of Castilleja indivisa and Lupinus ssp. taken along FM 1323 north of Johnson City, Blanco County

© Tom Lebsack 2026

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