CHROZOPHORA TINCTORIA

Family and Genus:- See- EUPHORBIACEAE

Common Names:- Greek spiny spurge

Homotypic Synonyms:- Chrozophora tinctoria var. genuina, Croton tinctorius,

Ricinoides tinctoria, Tournesol tinctoria.

Meaning:- Chrozophora (Gr) Stain-bearing (Formerly cultivated as a dye plant).

Tinctoria (L) Used for dyeing.

General description:- Plant green or grey-green, rather thinly covered with short,

dense, star-shaped, matted hairs.

Stems:-

1) Up to 50 cm, more or less branched.

Leaves:-

1) Ovate to rhombic, margins sinuate-dentate, subobtuse, cuneate at the base.

2) Petiole, as long as, to twice as long as the lamina.

Flowers:-

1) Yellowish-green, rather inconspicuous, male and female separate, but on the

same plant:

a) male, with 9-11 stamens, borne in small erect racemes.

b) female, solitary or several together on long recurved petioles at the base of the

male.

Fruit:-

1) Capsule, trilobed, 5-8 mm, purplish, verruculose, mucronate, covered with peltate

hairs.

2) Seeds c. 4 mm, rough.

Key features:-

1) Plant green or grey-green.

2) Leaves, cuneate at the base.

3) Stamens 9-11.

Habitat:- Harvested fields, vineyards, open coniferous woodland and ruderal

habitats. 0-700 m.

Distribution:- Widespread in the Mediterranean area and SW Asia; also in other

warm-temperate and subtropical regions. Scattered occurrence across Crete mainly

central and west

Flowering time:- June-Oct.

Photos by:- Fotis Samaritakis & Steve Lenton