The next time you come across a Florida landscape photo from the '40s or '50s, especially from the Miami area, keep your eye out for crotons. The plant, which is known for its dazzling display of yellow, red and orange against a background of glossy emerald green, has brightened South Florida landscapes for almost 120 years.

This native of the Indonesian Spice Islands received its scientific name of Codiaeum variegatum in 1660. (Technically, the croton is not a croton but a codiaeum, but that's another story.) First introduced to America in the 1870s by the Henry A. Dreer seed and florist business in Philadelphia, the croton quickly made its way to Florida, where it was propagated and sold for decades by the Reasoner family of Bradenton and Palmetto, who helped pioneer the hoticulture business in Florida in the late 1880s.

In Central and South Florida, crotons have ebbed and flowed in popularity. "Crotons were very popular in the '20s and '30s, and sort of lost favor for whatever reason," says Andy Reasoner, who owns Royal Palm Nurseries, a landscaping and pest control business in Bradenton.

From the 1920s and earlier, hybridizers were developing new varieties that now exist only in the older neighborhoods from Miami to Tampa. Each new hybrid produced a fresh round of excitement; for a time the Franklin Roosevelt, a colorful red, pink and green plant with long spotted leaves, and the green and yellow spotted Eleanor Roosevelt, both developed in the Miami area, were all the rage. Aubrey Christian, a hybridizer who liked creating leaves mottled with combinations of pastels, named his plants after artists such as Michelangelo and Raphael. Crotons were named after family members, favorite pets and politicians. Rudy Bachman, another hybridizer, developed Mona Lisa, a croton with a broad leaf and a huge cream-colored center. Mona Lisa was popular about 20 years ago, but now only two collectors are known to have plants.

By the 1950s, some nurseries around Miami sold only crotons. Landscapers were using them for hedges, and entire neighborhoods were full of them. A croton backlash came when people realized that too many made for a garish presentation of clashing colors. Not suited for full sun, the plants acquired the reputation of being washed out and unkempt. White sap flowing from cut leaves stained clothes. A wave of negative press curtailed croton mania for a few decades.

But the colorful, slow-growing, drought-tolerant and hearty plant is making a comeback, and none too soon. As developers bulldoze old houses to make way for bigger homes, and rambling backyards morph into swimming pools and lanais, a dedicated group of hobbyists and professional growers is urgently scouting old neighborhoods and neglected gardens to rescue many of the remaining plants. They're on a mission to find the crotons of yesteryear before they disappear.

"It's gotten so hard to find these old crotons, it's almost tragic," says Harold Lee, a Tampa landscape designer and vice president of the Croton Society, a Tampa-based plant society with 180 members from across the U.S., the Caribbean, Central America, even Australia and Japan. "I've collected quite a few plants, from heliconias to gingers and palms, but when I got to crotons I stopped," says Lee. "This is such a wonderful, diverse plant with such a fascinating history."

The Croton Society, which formed in the Tampa area about six years ago, has garnered a following on both coasts. Its Web site, www.crotons.org, offers a wealth of information about plant history and care, and exhorts members to "Start cruising! Reconnoiter your area to locate interesting crotons, especially in old neighborhoods"- admonishing them, of course, to "always ask permission first" before taking cuttings.

"We are on a quest," Lee says. "The interest in these plants is just exploding. People are coming out of the woodwork to take part in this search. Right now, the horticultural arena is crazy about crotons."

Crotons do flower, but it's the plant that's showy, not the flower. They grow in a virtual kaleidoscope of colors and patterns with leathery or waxy leaves that can be long, thin and screwy, oak leaf shaped or large and broad shaped.

Finding and identifying old varieties is a priority of the Croton Society, and the main reason the group formed. "About 10 of us got together and decided that we had to do something," Lee remembers. "We agreed that we all love these plants and we wanted to see how many we could find and move before they disappear."

When found, rare varieties are often replanted in botanical gardens. Sunken Gardens in St. Petersburg is one such repository. The garden has exhibited crotons since the early 1950s, but the collection, now named The Croton Patch, has grown considerably lately thanks to the efforts of the Croton Society.