变叶木 bian ye mu

Croton variegatus Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1199. 1753 ["variegatum"]; Codiaeum variegatum (Linnaeus) Blume; C. variegatum var. pictum (Loddiges) Müller Argoviensis; Croton pictus Loddiges.

Shrubs up to 3 m tall; branches glabrous, with prominent leaf scars. Petiole 0.2-2.5 cm; leaf blade very variable in shape and color, linear, linear-lanceolate, oblong, elliptic, lanceolate, ovate, spatulate, or fiddle-shaped to obovate, sometimes divided to midvein into upper and lower parts, 5-30 × (0.3-)0.5-8 cm, thinly leathery, green, purple-red, and/or yellow, sometimes with colored spots or stripes of spots, base cuneate to obtuse, apex acute or acuminate to rounded. Inflorescences 8-30 cm. Male flowers white; pedicels delicate; petals 5, smaller than sepals; disk glands 5; stamens 20-30. Female flowers yellowish; pedicels slightly thickened; sepals ovate-triangular; disk annular; styles recurved, entire. Capsule subglobose, slightly flattened, glabrous, ca. 9 mm in diam. Seeds ca. 6 mm. Fl. Sep-Oct, fr. Nov-Dec.

Cultivated. Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Hainan, Yunnan [native to Indonesia and Malaysia (peninsular) to Oceania; widely introduced].

Codiaeum variegatum is widely cultivated as a house plant for its very brightly colored foliage. The leaves are used as a medicine to disperse extravasated blood and as an anti-inflammatory.