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Description:Codiaeum variegatum is a highly variable ornamental shrub that grows up to heights of about 10 ft (~3.1 m). In the wild, this attractive cultivated species is commonly known in English as “croton” or “garden croton.” C. variegatum is a highly variable evergreen shrub that produces large, leathery, shiny leaves. The cultivated plants of this species are usually smaller than the wild ones and indeed they provide an astonishing variety of leaf shapes and colors. The glossy, leathery leaves of the cultivated Croton plants are alternately arranged on the stems or branches; they are ovate or linear in shape with entire or deeply lobed margins, and depending on the cultivar, they are characterized by their variegated green, purple, pink, orange, brown, yellow and/or white colors. The leaf colors may follow the veins, the margins or they may be in blotches. The inconspicuous, star-shaped, yellow flowers are tiny and hang down in long racemes. A milky latex bleeds from cut stems; this sap and the bark, roots, and leaves are poisonous, containing a toxin known as 5-deoxyingenol. Chewing on the bark and roots of Croton plants reportedly causes burning of the mouth, and the toxic sap can cause skin irritation following repeated exposure.
Distribution: There is horticultural confusion with Codiaeum, a small and distantly related Malesian genus of Euphorbiaceae whose common names “croton” or “garden croton” (noted above) which refer to the worldwide cultivated ornamental varieties of Codiaeum variegatum; therefore, it is not a species in the large genus Croton (e.g., see Berry et al. 2005). Generally, C. variegatum is only found as a “cultivated plant, from sea-level to mid-montane, although a closely related variety, C. variegatum var. moluccanum (Dec.) Muell. occurs commonly in the wild throughout Melanesia” (World Health Organization 2009). Garden croton plants (C. variegatum) occur naturally in some areas of southern Asia, Indonesia, northern Australia, and some Western Pacific islands where it grows in open forests and scrub. There are now several hundred cultivars, selected, bred and cultivated for their attractive, colorful leaves.
Uses by Island or Island Group: “Cordyline fruticosa [see below] and Codiaeum varigatum are as significant in the Micronesian high islands as they are in Melanesian and Polynesian societies” (Clarke and Thaman 1993). Today, the common croton (C. variegatum) is one of most decorative and popular ornamental plants, cultivated over a huge range outdoors in gardens in the tropics and often grown as an indoor ornamental in many temperate climate areas. Throughout much of tropical world these plants are used make attractive hedges and potted patio specimens, valued for their conspicuous leaves.Garden crotons are also commonly “used as a windbreak species, as a ‘living fence’ and as a boundary marker” (Elevitch 2011). Like many species in family Euphorbiaceae, the latex of these (C. variegatum) ornamental plants is poisonous and can cause skin irritation in some people; however, the roots of some varieties have been utilized in traditional herbal medicine to treat stomach ulcers, and reportedly toothache; in addition, their leaves contain antibacterial and antiamoebic properties (e.g., World Health Organization 1998, Moundipa et al. 2005, Ogunwenmo et at. 2007).
Uses in Palau:Tuyama reported that in Palau C. variegatum (known locally as Kesúk) has been used as decorative flowering species planted as hedges in gardens. Okabe reported that the leaves and bark of the croton plant, C. variegatum, has used in number medicinal remedies in Palau, including those for dysentery, diarrhea, venereal disease and yaws (see Defillips et al. 1988). Kitilong et al. (2011:75) reported that boiled leaves of Premna serratifolia and “Codiaeum variegatum (kesuk ianged)” are “drunk as tea to treat asthma.” Cordyline fruticosa and Codiaeum varigatum, two common ornamental plants in the tropics were reportedly “sometimes not planted in Palauan house gardens because of their association with death and the supernatural” (Clarke and Thaman 1993 citing McCutcheon 1981).
Uses in Yap: The juice squeezed out of the common ornamental, C. variegatum,have reportedly been used in Yap to “cure pains in feet” (e.g., Kawagoe 1917:67).
Uses on Namoluk Atoll: “This colorful plant often grows adjacent to houses, and its major use is to mark boundaries between pieces of land and to delineate graves” (Marshall 1975:38).
Uses in Chuuk: Manner (2013:234), in his review of the ethnobotanical contributions of Y.C. Wong, with updates on the plants and their uses on Romonum Island in Chuuk Lagoon, reported on “Codiaeum variegatum (L.) Rumph. ex A. Juss.” in Chuuk. Manner listed the Chuukese names for the common Croton ornamental plant (C. variegatum) as “soon kurutong” (at least the name(s) that are used on Romonum Island); Manner listed it as an “abundant…ornamental plant in village areas.”
Uses in the Marshall Islands: A Marshallese name for the garden croton is ut, which is a common term for flower or hedge in these atoll or reef islands; another name used in the Marshalls for this ornamental plant is “croton.” It is apparently a recent introduction in the Marshalls where is now planted as an “ornamental, singly or as hedges in household gardens and around businesses,” and a relatively common variety (“C. variegatum var. aucubafolium”) is found in a number of locations on Majuro (Vander Velde 2003; also see St. John 1948:283).
Uses in Kiribati: According to Thaman (1987:40),the common croton, Codiaeum variegatum is “recent post-European contact introduction” in Kiribati where it is used as a “decorative or ornamental plant” but does not have a recognized vernacular name. Wester (1985:25) listed the croton ornamental plant “Codiaeum variegatum (L.) B1. var. pictum (Lodd.) Muell.-Arg.” as a shrub cultivated in villages in the Northern Line Islands, now a part of the Republic of Kiribati.
Uses on Nauru: Codiaeum variegatum is a pre-World War I1 introduction to Nauru Island and is known there as “croton” or “codiaeum.” It is commonly planted as an ornamental and hedge plant on this raised reef island (Thaman et al. 1994:127).