Croton tiglium Seeds | Purging Croton
LATIN NAME: Croton tiglium
COMMON NAME: Purging Croton
Plant Profile
Purging croton is a handsome tropical shrub with a seed that has killed people, and the two facts have to be held together. It grows two to six metres, with glossy, oval, pointed leaves on long stalks, small greenish-yellow flowers in terminal racemes, and three-lobed capsules holding three smooth, mottled, grey-brown seeds. The foliage is attractive in the way that codiaeum and other euphorbs are attractive, and the plant is grown in frost-free gardens as a bold foliage shrub. The seed contains fifty to sixty percent of an oil that is one of the most violent purgatives known, and a single seed can cause severe illness in a child. It is native to southern and southeastern Asia, from India through southern China to Malaysia, in warm, humid, disturbed ground and forest edges. It is a plant to grow behind a fence, not beside a sandpit.
Science & Biotechnology
The active compounds are phorbol esters, diterpenes that mimic diacylglycerol and activate protein kinase C, and the best known of them, phorbol myristate acetate, is a standard laboratory tumour promoter used in cancer research. Croton oil itself was used experimentally for decades to promote skin tumours in mice after initiation, and that work is the foundation of the two-stage model of carcinogenesis. The oil is also a severe irritant and a purgative that can cause vomiting, cramps, dehydration and, in serious cases, death. In Chinese pharmacy the seed is known as ba dou and is used only after processing into ba dou shuang, a powder in which much of the oil has been removed, and even then under professional supervision. The plant is monoecious, with separate male and female flowers on the same spike, and the seed is dispersed explosively when the capsule dries.
Uses & Benefits
In the garden it is an ornamental foliage shrub for warm climates, and nothing more: bold leaves, a tropical look, and a tolerance of poor soil. It has a long medicinal record, and that record is the reason for caution rather than for use. The oil has been applied externally as a counter-irritant and taken internally as a drastic purgative in systems of medicine from India to China, always in tiny doses and always with risk. Modern medicine has abandoned it as a therapeutic, though its phorbol esters remain important research tools. The seed oil has also been used as a lamp oil and in soap making in parts of Asia, and the wood is soft and of no value. Nothing about this plant belongs in a home medicine cabinet.
Growing from Seed
Soak the seed for twenty-four hours, then sow one centimetre deep in a gritty, well-drained mix at 22 to 28 degrees; germination is fast, often within two weeks. Keep the seedlings in bright light and water steadily, since the plant is a fast grower in warmth and resents both drought and waterlogging. Pot on as the roots fill the container, and plant out in a frost-free, sheltered site in full sun or light shade. It may seed itself in warm gardens, and the seedlings should be removed or potted and given away with a warning. Handle the seed with gloves and wash your hands afterwards. In cool climates grow it as a conservatory plant and keep it away from children and pets.
Our Take
A striking foliage shrub with one of the most dangerous seeds in the trade. Grow it for looks only, handle the seed with gloves, and never experiment with it.
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