The Collaborative International Dictionary
Croton \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.
Wiktionary
n. A dark yellow, acrid oil, obtained from the seeds of plants of the genus ''Croton'', once used as a drastic purgative.
WordNet
n. viscid acrid brownish-yellow oil from the seeds of Croton tiglium having a violent cathartic action
Wikipedia
Croton oil (Crotonis oleum) is an oil prepared from the seeds of Croton tiglium, a tree belonging to the order Euphorbiales and family Euphorbiaceae, and native or cultivated in India and the Malay Archipelago. Small doses taken internally cause diarrhea. Externally, the oil can cause irritation and swelling. Croton oil is used in some chemical peels, due to its caustic exfoliating effects it has on the skin. Used in conjunction with phenol solutions, it results in an intense reaction which leads to initial skin sloughing. Since croton oil is very irritating and painful, it is used in laboratory animals to study how pain works, pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory drugs, and immunology.
Because croton tiglium oil is cocarcinogenic, it has been used in tumor research. Croton oil is the source of the chemical compound phorbol. Tumor promotion activity was traced to phorbol esters present in croton oil. Pure phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate which is found in croton oil is now used widely in laboratory research to induce tumor development.
Usage examples of "croton oil".
Apple Of Acajou is a name of Anacardium occidentale, which yields a caustic oil used like croton oil.
I guess it - the emulsion -had acted very much in the same way as a few drops of croton oil would have done had it been made into an emulsion - as an irritant poison.
Wouldnt she have asked someone who knew--Suppose you gave croton oil to a person.
Why, with twenty thousand men, Gustavus Adolphus, or the Duke of Parma, or Gonzalo de C6rdoba could have gone through all five of these Great Kingdoms like a dose of croton oil.