Myrtle Croton

Sun or shade. Semievergreen, with soft elliptical dark leaves pale below; the contorted leaves are much larger in shade than in sun and do resemble, as the name suggests, mouse ears. Inconspicuous flowers appear in spring and fall. Bernardia is an excellent selection for unirrigated dry sites and backgrounds where it makes a nice rounded native specimen or informal hedge whether it rains or not. It may shed leaves in extreme cold, but mostly it stays green.

Southwestern U.S. and Mexico; a Texas native but typically available only from native plant suppliers.