Croton capitatus

{{Short description|Species of flowering plant}} {{Redirect-distinguish|Hogwort|Hogwarts|Hogweed}} {{Speciesbox |name = Hogwort |image = Croton capitatus.jpg |image_caption = |status = G5 |status_system = TNC |status_ref=<ref name=natureserve>{{cite NatureServe |id=2.137620 |title=''Croton capitatus'' |access-date=21 March 2026}}</ref> |genus = Croton |species = capitatus |authority = [[André Michaux|Michx.]] }}

'''''Croton capitatus''''', known as the '''hogwort''',<ref name=natureserve/> '''woolly croton''', or '''goatweed''',<ref name=MO>{{cite web |title=Hogwort (Woolly Croton) |url=https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/hogwort-woolly-croton |website=Missouri Department of Conservation |language=en}}</ref> is an [[annual plant]] with erect, branched [[Plant stem|stem]]s, densely covered with light brown, wooly hairs that give it a whitish appearance. It grows in dry, open areas, especially sandy and rocky soils.<ref name=MO/> It is distributed across the eastern [[United States]].<ref name=natureserve/> Hogwort is a host plant for the goatweed leafwing butterfly (''[[Anaea andria]]'').<ref>{{cite web |title=Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - The University of Texas at Austin |url=https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=crca6 |website=www.wildflower.org}}</ref>

==In fiction== British author [[J. K. Rowling]] did not deliberately name [[Hogwarts]] after the hogwort. It was only after the books were published, when a friend reminded her of seeing the plant in the [[Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew|Kew Gardens]] many years beforehand, that Rowling speculated that the name had remained in her subconscious ever since.<ref name=hplexicon>{{cite news|url=http://www.hp-lexicon.org/hogwarts/w_pl_hogwarts.html|title=Visitor's Guide to Hogwarts|publisher=[[The Harry Potter Lexicon]]}} Retrieved 20 October 2007</ref>

==See also== *[[List of Croton species]]

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060103050550/http://www.noble.org/Ag/Wildlife/DeerFoods/PlantPhotos/C-029.html Noble Foundation Hogwort page] *[https://web.archive.org/web/20060828100720/http://uvalde.tamu.edu/herbarium/crca.htm Uvalde Research and Extension Center page on the Hogwort]

[[Category:Croton (plant)|capitatus]] [[Category:Flora of the Southeastern United States]] [[Category:Flora of Texas]] [[Category:Flora without expected TNC conservation status]]