title: Claoxylon indicum
text: # Claoxylon indicum
  
  Claoxylon indicum is a dioecious flowering plant in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. The Latin specific epithet indicum means "Indian", referring to the locality of collection of the type specimen, which was probably Java, part of the Dutch East Indies at that time.
  
  ## Description
  
  Claoxylon indicum is a pyramid-shaped shrub or small tree growing to 2–10 m in height. Its branches are grey and hairy, with large leaf scars. The leaves are oval and 80–300 mm long. The slender male inflorescence is 30–150 mm long, carrying many flowers; the female inflorescence 15–80 mm long. The lobed fruit is 7–10 mm in diameter, and the seeds round, black and wrinkled.
  
  ## Distribution and habitat
  
  The plant is widely distributed through southern and south-eastern Asia from India and southern China through Indochina and Malesia to Sulawesi. It also occurs on Christmas Island, an Australian territory in the north-eastern Indian Ocean south of Java. It is common along roadsides, railways, forest edges and in forest clearings.
  
  