Croton
Croton names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Croton a genus of Euphorbiaceæ the typical one of the tribe Crotoneӕ
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a genus of Euphorbiaceæ the typical one of the tribe Crotoneӕ. Some are trees, others bushes, and yet others herbaceous plants ; the leaves and inflorescence are also variable. They occur in the warmer parts of both hemispheres. Some are purgative. A decoction of C. perdicipes is used in Brazil as a cure for syphilis and as a diuretic. The purgative root of C. campestris, and the leaves and bark of C. origanifolius, are diaphoretic and antispastic . The wood of C. Tiglium is sudorific, and used against syphilis; the seeds are purgative. The oil of C. Tiglium and Pavana, two East Indian trees, is so acrid as to blister the skin. They are used as diuretics and purgatives. Many are balsamic. C. balsamifer is used in Martinique in the preparation of the liquid called eau de mantes. Frankincense is extracted from C. thurifer and C. adipatus, which grow on the Amazon. C. humilis, found in the West Indies, has aromatic qualities, and is used in medicating baths. C. gratissimus is fragrant, and is used as a perfume by the Koras in south Africa. The balsam of C. origanifolius is employed as a substitute for copaiva. C. cascarilla is aromatic. Yet others have a coloring matter. C. Draco and C. sanguiferum furnish a red substance like gum-lac. C. cascarilla, a Jamaica bush, was thought to furnish the cascarilla of commerce, which is now known to be derived from C. Eleuteria, a Bahama shrub; that of Mexico comes from C. pseudo-China; and C. nitens, C. cascarilloides, micans, and suberosus might also be made to yield cascarilla.
Croton a river in New York which joins the Hudson
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
a river in New York which joins the Hudson, 32 miles N. of New water through the Croton Aqueduct, York City. It supplies the city with aqueduct was completed in 1906. which was first opened in 1842. A new which carries a portion of the water CROTON AQUEDUCT, the aqueduct supply of New York City from the Croton basin, an area of about 375 square miles, situated about 30 miles from the city. The old aqueduct was constructed between 1837 and 1842 ; it is 38 miles long, with a declivity for the greater part of its course of 13½ inches to the mile, the water channel averaging 8 feet 5 inches in height and 7 feet 8 inches in greatest breadth. New York needs demanding a greater supply, a new aqueduct was begun in 1883. This delivers to the city about 336,000,000 gal- Catskill aqueduct in 1917 the Croton lons daily. With the completion of the aqueduct furnishes only about half the water supply of New York City.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Collier's in 1921 listed croton species as remedies for syphilis, as purgatives and as diaphoretics; that pharmacy is gone. Croton oil from C. tiglium was abandoned as a medicine because it is violently caustic, and its active phorbol esters — above all TPA, isolated from the oil — are now standard laboratory tumour promoters used in cancer research, while syphilis has been treated with penicillin since the 1940s. Cascarilla bark from C. eluteria survives only as a bitter flavouring, and the plant most people now call a "croton" is a different genus, Codiaeum variegatum. The New York river fared better and worse: the old aqueduct "first opened in 1842" was retired from service in 1955 and its route is now the Old Croton Aqueduct State Historic Park trail, and where Collier's said Croton furnished half the city's water, it supplies roughly a tenth today, filtered since 2015 at a plant beneath Van Cortlandt Park.
Written for this edition, 2026.