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Chinese croton
Excoecaria cochinchinensis
Excoecaria cochinchinensis is a species of flowering plant in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common names Chinese croton, blindness tree, buta buta, and jungle fire plant. It is native to Southeast China, Hainan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.
It is a subtropical evergreen shrub with a woody stem, growing up to 1–2 meters (3.3–6.6 ft) high. Its leaves are opposite, their texture shiny and papery, the upper surface dark green or variegated and the underside a deep maroon. The leaves measure 6–14 cm by 2–4 cm (2.4–5.5 in by 0.8–1.6 in). It is dioecious.
From the article Excoecaria cochinchinensis on Wikipedia (CC BY-SA), quoted section by section
At the table
Excoecaria cochinchinensis is cultivated as an ornamental tropical plant, greenhouse plant, or houseplant. A popular colorful cultivar is "Firestorm."
Wikipedia: “Uses”
In human culture
The common name of blindness tree comes from Latin, "excoecaria", to make blind. Sap in the eyes is reported to causes blindness. The Latin name cochinchinensis derives from Cochinchina, an old name for Vietnam.
Wikipedia: “Etymology”
Where it lives
Recorded sightings
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geo-referenced records in GBIF, from museums, herbaria and field observers.
Drag the globe to turn it. Dots are where records exist, not a range map; darker means more records.
In the stacks
Searching the stacks…
Every page naming Excoecaria cochinchinensis in the Biodiversity Heritage Library →
This page is assembled live from iNaturalist, GBIF, Wikipedia, the Source Library and the Internet Archive. It is not yet part of the hand-edited codex. iNaturalist taxon 345551.