Croton is an attractive and versatile deciduous shrub or small tree in the home garden, but capable of becoming a large tree in certain instances. The young branches of lavender croton are pleasantly aromatic; and it is recorded that Bushman girls dried these and then powder them to make perfume. The charred and powdered bark is used to treat bleeding gums. Although the plant is believed to be toxic, it is an important stock food in Namibia. It is also a beautiful ornamental plant with pale bark and attractive foliage.

Croton gratissimus is a shrub or a small tree that may reach 10 m in height in South Africa, but can grow to 20 m tall further north in Africa. It is a slender tree with fine, drooping foliage and a crown which spreads upwards in a ‘V’-shape with drooping terminal branches. The leaves of the lavender croton are simple and alternate, with a beautiful and striking silvery under-surface. The upper surface is dark green and shiny, without hairs, while the under surface is covered by dense scales producing a silvery colour. Leaves are also dotted with cinnamon coloured glandular scales. Croton gratissimus bears small cream to golden yellow flowers in spikes of about 10 cm long. The small buds are formed and stay on the tree for months before the flowers open. Spikes contain different sex flowers, with only one or two females at the bottom of the spike, and the rest are males. Fruit, formed between September and November, is a three lobed capsule. First green, it turns yellow as it matures. In late autumn the capsule dries out and explodes flinging the seed some distance from the mother plant.