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Croton eluteria (L.) W.Wright

Cascarilla; Seaside balsam

Euphorbiaceae · Bahamas, Cuba +3

Photographs not checked iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built. Not asked, or not answered, is not "none": nothing here claims there is none. Why the site says it this way.
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Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
21.3°C
Record low 18.1 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
28°C
Jun, Jul, Aug and Sep at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
1,113mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
24–44DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in your months, northern hemisphere
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Wet summers: the rain comes May to November, read as a summer growing season. rain rule, CHELSA
Northern hemisphere unless you set your site. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Croton eluteria, known as cascarilla, is a plant species of the genus Croton that is native to the Caribbean. It has been naturalized in other tropical regions of the Americas. It grows to be a small tree or tall shrub, rarely reaching 20 feet (6 m) in height. Its leaves are scanty, alternate, ovate-lanceolate, averaging 2 inches (5 cm) long, with close scaling below, giving a metallic silver-bronze appearance, and scattered white scales above. More on Wikipedia ›

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Croton eluteria", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads a summer growing season: 70% of the median year's rain (828 mm of 1,083 mm) falls in May to November, warmer than the year (wet-season mean 26.5 °C against a yearly mean of 25.2 °C). Months are the habitat's, northern hemisphere; shifted six months for a southern-hemisphere collection: November to May.

Rain

1,083 mm in the median year at the habitat, 828 mm of it May to November. Wettest month October at 159 mm, driest month February at 47 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 970 mm to 1,590 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 1,113 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 1,083 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, northern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 24 to 44 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 22, the highest 90th-percentile month 44).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 21.3 °C, the absolute minimum 18.1 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 30.7 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 21.8 °C in January and February (across the grid cells of the range 17.9 °C to 23.2 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 28.4 °C in August (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.3 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 59 to 64% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected +118 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, northern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Croton eluteria through the yearWarmest months June, July, August and September, mean daily high 28 °C; coldest months January and February, mean nightly low 21.8 °C; 1,083 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, northern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°30.7° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER18.1° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter050100150200250mm rainDLI 24–44RH 59–64%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 41 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C24 / 23–2724 / 23–2724 / 23–2825 / 24–2926 / 25–2928 / 27–3028 / 28–3128 / 28–3028 / 28–3027 / 27–2926 / 25–2825 / 24–28
Night °C22 / 18–2322 / 18–2322 / 19–2323 / 20–2424 / 22–2526 / 23–2627 / 23–2727 / 23–2726 / 23–2725 / 22–2624 / 21–2523 / 19–24
Rain mm51 / 31–7147 / 34–6750 / 42–8656 / 36–138113 / 92–220128 / 83–20184 / 63–139107 / 85–172135 / 120–206159 / 116–210102 / 67–14751 / 39–74
DLI26 / 23–3131 / 29–3537 / 35–3942 / 41–4342 / 40–4342 / 41–4444 / 42–4442 / 40–4237 / 35–3831 / 30–3427 / 24–3024 / 22–29
RH %59 / 58–6359 / 59–6259 / 59–6360 / 59–6463 / 62–6564 / 62–6563 / 61–6463 / 62–6563 / 63–6662 / 61–6760 / 59–6659 / 58–64
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 41 grid cells on land that hold in-range records (48 records in those cells; 1 more cell holds records but no land by the elevation layer, so those records sit at sea and the cell is left out), with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1440:2065 (17.975, -76.725). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 18.1 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.3 °C, 99th-percentile day 30.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 41 distinct grid cells holding 48 of the 49 in-range records (1 further cell with records at sea, by the elevation layer, left out); extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1440:2065 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.00_-76.875, lapse-corrected +118 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 256 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeBahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker25.017, -76.142 · in the densest population, 43 records (57% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub or tree” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 75 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 48 of them in the land cells it reads, of 49 placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 72 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker in the same place. 10 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 26 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 2° block of the 75 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Not checked. iNaturalist was skipped (not asked) when this page was built; GBIF's observation records with coordinates hold none. Not a statement that none exist.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Reynosia septentrionalis Reynosia septentrionalis Darling-plum Photo: CC BY, Alan PratherJacquinia keyensis Jacquinia keyensis Joewood Photo: CC BY, Josiah LonderéeRachicallis americana Rachicallis americana Rubiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedCasasia clusiifolia Casasia clusiifolia Seven-year apple Photo: CC BY, Ben MachadoPilosocereus robinii Pilosocereus robinii Key tree cactus Photo: CC BY, Rob FosterHeterosavia bahamensis Heterosavia bahamensis Bahama maidenbush Photo: CC0, Daderot

Other Croton 49 in the reference

Croton alabamensis Croton alabamensis Alabama croton Photo: CC0, author not statedCroton bonplandianus Croton bonplandianus Bonpland's croton Photo: CC BY, Rocío Esmeralda PoseCroton californicus Croton californicus California croton Photo: CC0, author not statedCroton capitatus Croton capitatus Woolly croton Photo: CC BY, CH HemphillCroton cascarilloides Croton cascarilloides Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, vrxzCroton chilensis Croton chilensis Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Nicolás LavanderoCroton ciliatoglandulifer Croton ciliatoglandulifer Bush croton Photo: CC BY, Cody HinchliffCroton coriaceus Croton coriaceus Euphorbiaceae Photo: CC BY, Dick CulbertCroton cortesianus Croton cortesianus Cortez's croton Photo: CC BY-SA, Jalil R.Croton draco Croton draco Weeping blood Photo: CC BY, River Ahlquist Croton elegans Euphorbiaceae Croton flavens Croton flavens Yellow balsam Photo: CC BY, Matteo Bellucci all 50 ›

Names & registers

Also known as Cascarilla officinalis; Clutia cascarilla; Clutia decandra; Clutia eluteria; Croton cascarilla and 7 more. (GBIF Backbone)

Under another author Croton cascarilloides Geiseler is an older name of this species, not Croton cascarilloides, a species of the reference. (GBIF Backbone)

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Euphorbiaceae
Described by
(L.) W.Wright
Native to
Bahamas, Cuba, Dominican Republic +2
Wild records
75 in range · 72 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredas of 2026-10-21GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 4 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (4 at a botanic garden or arboretum; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 18.00_-76.875, lapse-corrected +118 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22IPNI and POWO linked by Kew's number for Croton eluteria (L.) W.Wright (the item's: IPNI 1206631-2, POWO 907821-1)
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
Wikimedia Commons commons nothing to reportasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 13 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

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