Croton sylvaticus
Croton sylvaticus, commonly known as the forest fever-berry, is a tree in the Euphorbiaceae family. It grows in moist forests, thickets, and forest edges from the eastern coast of South Africa across Tropical Africa. The tree is usually 7–13 meters tall, occasionally reaching up to 30 meters, and it grows at altitudes of about 350–1,800 meters.
It has greenish-cream flowers up to 3 mm long, arranged on racemes that are 10–30 cm long. The flowers can be all male, all female, or mixed. The fruit is green when young and turns orange or red as it ripens; it is trilobed, oval, and hairy.
The wood is used as general timber for poles, posts, and as fuel.
Some studies have identified chemical compounds in extracts, including β-caryophyllene oxide, α-humulene-1,2-epoxide, hardwickiic acid, β-sitosterol, and stigmasterol, while other research found the essential oil to be mostly bicyclogermakrene.
Traditional uses include placing sap from the leaves on cuts to help healing, using bark to treat malaria, drinking a decoction of the root bark for tuberculosis, and using an infusion of the leaves as a purgative.
Conservation status: Least Concern (IUCN 3.1).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 13:09 (CET).