Botanical name: Croton hirtus    Family: Euphorbiaceae (Castor family)
Synonyms: Croton aberrans, Brachystachys hirta, Oxydectes aberrans

Hairy Croton is an erect annual herb to 1 m tall, with unpleasant smell. Stem is covered in rigid star-shaped hairs 2-3 mm long. Leaves are star-shaped-hairy on both sides, ovate-rhombic, 2-5-7.5 - 1-5 cm, with toothed margins; leaf base glandular, with two stalked glands at leaf-stalk tip. Flowers are borne in racemes at branch-ends, 1.5-4 cm long. Female flowers are at base of raceme, green; calyx persistent, with unequal sepals. Petals are tiny or absent; ovary star-shaped bristly, 3-celled. Male flowers are placed higher in raceme; sepals 5, equal; petals 5, white; stamens 10 or 11, prominent, white. Fruit is a 3-lobed, splitting, globular capsule, about 4 mm diameter. Seeds 3 mm long, shiny grey-brown, finely and netveinedly ribbed, with a tiny white aril. Hairy Croton is found in West Indies, Central and South America and Tropical Asia. In India it is seen in Peninsular India, Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.

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The flower labeled Hairy Croton is ...