Croton gratissimus

Croton gratissimus Burch.

Common names

Lavender croton (English); katanda-vibanda (Kunda); kananga, mtanda; mutanda-viwanda (Tumbuka).

General description and distinguishing characteristics

A small tree or shrub up to 12 m tall but usually half this size in the valley. Bark dark grey to pale brown, rough and fisdsured at the base of the trunk, smoother higher up. Leaves simple, alternate, 1.5-18-0.5-6 cm, elliptic-lanceolate to oblong lanceolate. Leaf texture papery to leathery, hairless, mid- to dark green above, and markedly silvery below with rusty gland dots clearly visible to the naked eye; margin entire. Petiole 0.5-7 cm long, with two glands where the leaf joins the petiole. Flowers small, creamy yellow and inconspicuous, produced in racemes 1-15 cm long, female flowers near the base and male flowers forming the rest of the spike (September-November). Fruit a three-lobed, dehiscent capsule, 8-10 mm in diameter, greenish to silvery with brown spots (March).

Range and habitat

Croton gratissimus occurs throughout tropical and sub-tropical Africa. In the Luangwa valley it is found in mixed alluvial thicket near the major rivers and tributaries.