Croton gratissimusBurch.

WFO wfo-0000931164 Accepted WFO 2026-06 8 photographs CC BY / CC BY-SA

Plate 1 figs. a–h · 8 separate observations

Croton gratissimus, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. a Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / 2022-01-31 / obs. 177827884
Croton gratissimus, photographed by Matthew Fainman
fig. b Matthew Fainman, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 149554491
Croton gratissimus, photographed by Mahomed Desai
fig. c Mahomed Desai, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 139256769
Croton gratissimus, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. d Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 126711764
Croton gratissimus, photographed by Robert Taylor
fig. e Robert Taylor, CC BY 4.0 / obs. 116392269
Croton gratissimus, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. f Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 59127661
Croton gratissimus, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. g Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 59108571
Croton gratissimus, photographed by Tony Rebelo
fig. h Tony Rebelo, CC BY-SA 4.0 / obs. 59184141

Every figure is a research-grade observation under CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA, rehosted with the photographer’s name, the licence and the observation it came from. Photographs under a NonCommercial licence are excluded from this site and are never stored, which costs us a great many pictures and is not negotiable.

Native range 28 botanical countries

Regions where Croton gratissimus is native: Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burkina, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Chad, DR Congo, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sudan-South Sudan, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe AngolaBeninBotswanaBurkinaCameroonCape ProvincesCaprivi StripChadDR CongoEthiopiaGambiaGhanaGuineaIvory CoastKenyaKwaZulu-NatalMalawiMaliMozambiqueNamibiaNigeriaNorthern ProvincesSenegalSierra LeoneSudan-South SudanUgandaZambiaZimbabwe
Native distribution of Croton gratissimus, after Kew’s World Checklist of Vascular Plants. Introduced, extinct and doubtful records are excluded, so this is where the plant is from, not everywhere it now grows.
RegionTDWG codeContinent
Angola ANG AFRICA
Benin BEN
Botswana BOT
Burkina BKN
Cameroon CMN
Cape Provinces CPP
Caprivi Strip CPV
Chad CHA
DR Congo ZAI
Ethiopia ETH
Gambia GAM
Ghana GHA
Guinea GUI
Ivory Coast IVO
Kenya KEN
KwaZulu-Natal NAT
Malawi MLW
Mali MLI
Mozambique MOZ
Namibia NAM
Nigeria NGA
Northern Provinces TVL
Senegal SEN
Sierra Leone SIE
Sudan-South Sudan SUD
Uganda UGA
Zambia ZAM
Zimbabwe ZIM

Region boundaries approximated from Natural Earth (public domain) and mapped to TDWG World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions (WGSRPD) level-3 botanical countries (Brummitt 2001). Indicative, not the official WGSRPD geometry.

Also published as 10 synonyms

A synonym is not an error. It is a record of botanists disagreeing, in print, about where this plant belongs. Each of these was somebody’s considered answer.

  • Croton amabilis Müll.Arg.
  • Croton antunesii Pax
  • Croton microbotryus Pax
  • Croton subgratissimus Prain
  • Croton welwitschianus Müll.Arg.
  • Croton zambesicus Müll.Arg.
  • Oxydectes amabilis (Müll.Arg.) Kuntze
  • Oxydectes gratissima (Burch.) Kuntze
  • Oxydectes welwitschiana (Müll.Arg.) Kuntze
  • Oxydectes zambesica (Müll.Arg.) Kuntze

Sourcesevery claim on this page

  1. World Flora Online Plant List. accepted name, authority, classification. CC0. Retrieved 2026-07-12.
  2. iNaturalist. photographs and flowering annotations, CC0 / CC BY / CC BY-SA only. per photograph. Retrieved 2026-06-27.
  3. Kew, World Checklist of Vascular Plants (WCVP v16). native distribution by TDWG level-3 botanical country, and life form. CC BY 3.0. Retrieved 2026-06-04.

We publish what we can source and we say so when we cannot. This page has no care advice and no toxicity claim, because we do not yet have those from a source we can cite.