Croton trinitatis Millsp.

Annual herb, rather sparsely branching, ca 2-8 dm high; monoecious; stems slender, sparsely to moderately appressed-pubescent with long-radiate stellate hairs (spreading hairs up to 1 mm long). Leaves membranous; petioles stellate-pubes-cent ca 0.5-3.5 cm long, the petiolar glands distinctly stalked, as long as to twice as long as broad, 0.3-0.6 X 0.2-0.5 mm; stipules greenish, more or less subulate-tipped from a broader base, 0.4-1.1 mm long; blades oblong-deltoid to ovate, mostly 2-5 cm long, 1-4 cm broad, hispidulous-stellate above (hairs ca 0.2-0.8 mm across), radiate-stellate beneath (hairs ca 0.2-0.6 mm wide, 7-10-radiate), the veins at base 3(-5), with 3-5 additional veins on each side, the base obtuse, the margins coarsely serrate, major teeth ca 7-12 on a side, the apex acute. Inflorescences termi-nal or pseudoaxillary (in forks of branches), bisexual, ca 1 cm long or less, sub-sessile or with a short peduncle up to 0.5 cm long, with 2-4 proximal 9 flowers and 5-8 distal c flowers; bracts inconspicuous, greenish, pointed, less than 1 mm long, not or obscurely glandular at base. Staminate flowers with glabrous pedicels 0.3-0.6 mm long; calyx-lobes 5, with greenish sparsely hispidulous tips, ca 0.6-0.9 mm long; receptacle villose; petals ca as long as calyx-lobes, distinctly pointed; stamens 8-10, the filaments glabrous, 0.7-1 mm long, the anthers 0.25-0.3 mm long. Pistillate flowers with short densely pubescent pedicels which attain 1.5-2.6 mm long in fruit; calyx-lobes 5, subequal, oblanceolate or spathulate, ca 2.5-3.3 mm long, stellate-hispidulous; disc obscure; petals subulate, ca 0.3-0.4 mm long; ovary densely hispidulous, the styles bipartite, 0.7-1.1 mm long, the tips ? spreading, not inrolled. Capsules ca 4.5 mm long, stellate-pubescent; seeds compressed, blackish-brown, smooth (minutely foveolate-reticulate), not beaked, 3-3.6 mm long, 2.2-2.5 mm broad, the caruncle bilobed, 0.4-0.5 mm high, 1.1-1.3 mm broad.

Open, early secondary vegetation in evergreen forest formations on both the Caribbean and Pacific slopes of Costa Rica, at elevations up to 1,100 metres. Moist or wet fields or open pine forest, often a weed in cultivated ground.

Can be grown by seedlings.