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Home / Browse / Croton / Alabama Croton (var. alabamensis)
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Pictured: Croton alabamensis — the species. This variety isn’t separately illustrated.
Euphorbiaceae family

Alabama Croton (var. alabamensis) Croton alabamensis var. alabamensis variety

Native Specialist-bee host

Alabama Croton (var. alabamensis) is a perennial shrub native to the lower 48 states. A host for pollen-specialist native bees.

More about this plant

Croton alabamensis, known as Alabama croton, is a rare species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, that is endemic to Texas and Alabama in the Southeastern United States. It has two varieties whose ranges are separated by more than 1000 km: Croton alabamensis var. alabamensis is found in two central Alabama counties, while Croton alabamensis var. texensis is found in three counties in Texas. Wikipedia →

Growing & care

USDA PLANTS · TRY
Conditions
Sources · Conditions
Cold hardiness (derived) — Hardiness
Hardiness
≥ zone 8 derived from its U.S. range
Size & form
Sources · Size & form
USDA PLANTS — Lifespan
Lifespan
Perennial
In the garden
Shrub layer — Sits in the shrub of a layered food forest or polyculture.Open guide →
derived roles
Species characteristics from USDA PLANTS (public domain) + TRY (CC BY) — general guidance, not a guarantee for your exact site. Deer "browsing" is documented palatability, not a deer-proof claim.

Wildlife & pollinators

How pollinator value is scored →
❧ Caterpillar hosts ~5 caterpillar species

Croton supports ~5 caterpillar species.

Native butterfly & moth caterpillars are the base of the terrestrial food web — most songbirds rear their young almost entirely on them. As a host for native Lepidoptera this is a modest genus.

Recorded feeding on Croton in North America, including:

Adelphia ochripunctella · snout moth Aetia bipunctella Anacampsis lacteusochrella · twirler moth Anaea aidea · Tropical Leafwing Anaea andria · Goatweed Leafwing Anaea floridalis · brush-footed butterfly
+ 8 more species →
Automeris io · giant silk moth Calycopis cecrops · Red-Banded Hairstreak Leptarctia californiae · tiger moth Oxydia vesulia · Spurge Spanworm Moth Pseudoplusia includens · owlet moth Schinia citrinellus · owlet moth Seirarctia echo · Echo Moth Spodoptera frugiperda · Fall Armyworm Moth
Keystone count (genus-level) from Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use records. Named species (a documented Nearctic sample, not exhaustive) from NHM HOSTS (CC0).
✦ Bees specialist-bee host

Specialist native bees depend on it.

Some native bees are pollen specialists (oligolectic) — they raise young only on pollen from particular plant genera. Croton is a recorded specialist-bee host, so losing it can mean losing the bee that relies on it.

Xerces pollinator conservation →
Specialist hosts from Smith et al. 2024.
Species thumbnails re-hosted from iNaturalist — Creative Commons, credited per image (hover for credit). Click any species to see it on iNaturalist. Not exhaustive; many taxa have no openly-licensed photo yet.
Sources for this entry (12) Open & cited
[01] Scientific name & family — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[02] Growth habit & duration — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[03] Native status & distribution — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503)
[04] Common name — USDA PLANTS (via GBIF)
[05] Invasive / introduced status — USDA PLANTS (DwCA, Zenodo 17903503) — native status
[06] Description — Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)
[07] Ecological value — Warren II 2026 (CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts · Smith et al. 2024 (CC BY)
[08] Conservation rank — NatureServe Explorer (CC BY)
[09] Cold hardiness (derived) — Derived from U.S. range × USDA PHZM zones
[10] Caterpillar host count — Warren II 2026 (Dryad, CC0) · Tallamy host-use counts
[11] Caterpillar species — NHM HOSTS (CC0)
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