Roadside Croton
Croton trinitatis
Found in ballast piles, apparently only a waif. FloraQuest, phone app (app page) What its natural habitat tells you
Not native to Florida. 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 Florida counties.
Who uses this plant?
13CaterpillarsGenus host records with ranges including FL
Genus host records with ranges including FL · 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 acisBartrams Scrub-Hairstreak
Show all 13
- Strymon melinusGray Hairstreak
- Xylophanes tersaTersa Sphinx
- Anacampsis argyrothamniella
—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
| Florida rank | SNA |
|---|---|
| Global rank | Not available |
| FL status | Not verified |
| Federal status | Not verified |
Native alternatives
Find natives for your gardenSources
- Atlas of Florida Plants
- NatureServe Explorer
- 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