Texas Croton
Croton texensis
Found in sandy or sandy loam areas; eastwards in disturbed areas. Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025), South Central edition What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Alabama. How scores work Is it native here?
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At a glance
Not yet recorded · Height · Spread · Light · Soil · Life cycle · Leaves · Bloom
This plant is missing most of its facts, so Quercus is looking them up in old botany books.
Recorded in 2 Alabama counties.
Natural habitats
Places it grows wild. Not a planting requirement. Each habitat page lists the plants and wildlife also found there.
Roadsides, fields and disturbed ground
Ground opened by people: roadsides, old fields, pastures, fencerows and lots.
Who uses this plant?
11CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including AL
Genus host records with ranges including AL · Croton
- Amyna strictaEight-Spot Moth
- Anaea andriaGoatweed Leafwing , Goatweed Leaf Wing
- Anaea troglodytaFlorida Leafwing, Florida Leaf Wing
- Calycopis cecropsRed-Banded Hairstreak, Cecrops Hairstreak
- Chrysodeixis includensSoybean Looper Moth
- Oxydia vesuliaSpurge Spanworm Moth
- Seirarctia echoEcho Moth
- Spodoptera eridaniaSouthern Armyworm Moth
- Spodoptera frugiperdaFall Armyworm Moth
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
Show all 11
- Xylophanes tersaTersa Sphinx
—BeesSoutheastern regional records
1Specialist beesPollen specialists
20BirdsRecorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim
Recorded genus food-resource interactions; not a state feeding claim · Croton
- Agelaius phoeniceusRed-winged Blackbird
- Anthus rubescensAmerican Pipit
- Anthus spragueiiSprague's Pipit
- Callipepla californicaCalifornia Quail
- Cardinalis sinuatusPyrrhuloxia
- Colinus virginianusNorthern Bobwhite
- Columbina passerinaCommon Ground Dove
- Francolinus francolinusBlack Francolin
- Haemorhous mexicanusHouse Finch
- Hylocichla mustelinaWood Thrush
Show all 20
- Melospiza melodiaSong Sparrow
- Melozone crissalisCalifornia Towhee
- Ortalis vetulaPlain Chachalaca
- Pipilo maculatusSpotted Towhee
- Spinus psaltriaLesser Goldfinch
- Sturnus vulgarisEuropean Starling
- Tympanuchus pallidicinctusLesser Prairie-Chicken
- Zenaida asiaticaWhite-winged Dove
- Zenaida macrouraMourning Dove
- Zonotrichia atricapillaGolden-crowned Sparrow
Direct food only: birds recorded eating this genus across North America. Caterpillars on host plants also feed nesting birds. NC Native Plant Society: butterfly gardening
Plant details
- Family
- Euphorbiaceae
Safety has not been reviewed for this plant; check toxicity and thorns before planting.
Conservation status
| Alabama rank | SNR |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| AL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Alabama Plant Atlas
- Weakley, Flora of the Southeastern United States (2025)
- Shropshire & Tallamy 2025, Lepidoptera of North America north of Mexico, ZooKeys 1261 (ODbL)
- Noori, Seltmann & Orr 2026, A curated and integrated dataset for exploring global bee-plant interactions (GloBI), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Smith, Bachelder, Russell, Morales, Mosher & Seltmann 2024, Bee-Specialization-Modeling v0.6.1 (specialist host table compiled from J. Fowler's pollen specialist bee lists), Zenodo, CC BY 4.0
- Hurlbert, Olsen, Sawyer & Winner 2021, Avian Diet Database, Scientific Data 8: 260 (CC0)
- Narango, Tallamy & Shropshire 2020, Few keystone plant genera support the majority of Lepidoptera species, Nature Communications