Cro"ton (kr?"t?n), n. [Gr. , prop., a tick, which the seed of the croton resembles.] Bot.

A genus of euphorbiaceous plants belonging to tropical countries.

Croton oil Med., a viscid, acrid, brownish yellow oil obtained from the seeds of Croton Tiglium, a small tree of the East Indies. It is a most powerful drastic cathartic, and is used externally as a pustulant.

 

© Webster 1913.

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