Croton is a Spurge. a member of the Euphorbia family that provides us with a number of interesting perennials with their diagnostic flowers. Cushion Spurge, Euphorbia polychroma might be called a beginners' perennial, it has showy yellow flowers, is very hardy and easy to grow. Croton, ( properly Codiaeum) comes from Brazil and elsewhere in South America. We use it as a house plant mainly for its bizarrely multi-coloured foliage.
Checking as best I could to find out why it was considered poisonous, I went on the Internet. There was a response to the name Croton but the text immediately started to talk about other spurges, Icicle Spurge and Sun Spurge but not another word about Croton.
In the A.M.A. Handbook Croton is mentioned only once; not as a poisonous plant but included in a list of plants that the general public had called the Poison Control Agency to ask if it was toxic. The office in Miami, Florida reported that they had this question. No it's not.
Many spurges contain an acrid sap that could cause a blistering rash in some people. A friend who was weeding Sun Spurge by hand and then blew his nose on a tissue, immediately felt a red-hot pain in his nasal passages. Spurges affect some people but not others.
The one spurge that is totally harmless and yet gets the worse press of all; is the popular Christmas Poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima. It had been widely reported that in Hawaii a child had died from eating a Poinsettia. It is a story that should never been given any credibility what so ever. Children might gorge themselves on Plum Pudding but not ornamental plants.
A long time ago when Hugh Downs was the main man on the NBC Today show the U.S. Department of Agriculture would put on an extravagant display of this very colourful Christmas plant. Each year the audience was assured that the story of poisonous Poinsettias was a myth and then to prove his point the presenter would eat one!
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