Crown Flower

Appearance

It is a large shrub growing to 4 m tall. It has clusters of waxy flowers that are either white or lavender in colour. Each flower consists of five pointed petals and a small, elegant "crown" rising from the centre, which holds the stamens. The plant has oval, light green leaves and milky stem. The latex of ''Calotropis gigantea'' contains cardio glycosides, volatile fatty acids and calcium oxalate.

Uses

The flowers last long, and in Thailand they are used in various floral arrangements. They were also supposed to be popular with the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani, who considered them as symbol of royalty and wore them strung into leis. While in Cambodia, they are used in funerals to decorate the urn or sarcophagus and the interior of the house holding the funeral. The fruit is a follicle and when dry, seed dispersal is by wind. In Indonesia its flowers are called ''widuri''.

In India, the plant is common in the compounds of temples and is known as Madar in . Its leaf is one of the five leaves used in the Panch Pallava, a ritual assortment of five different leaves used as a totem by the Maratha culture in India.

It is known as වරා in Sinhala.

''Calotropis'' is used as a traditional medicinal plant with unique properties. Traditionally calotropis is used alone or with other medicinals to treat common disease such as fevers, rheumatism, indigestion, cough, cold, eczema, asthma, elephantiasis, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea . According to Ayurveda, the dried whole plant is a good tonic, expectorant, depurative, and anthelmintic. The dried root bark is a substitute for ipecacuanha. The root bark is febrifuge, anthelmintic, depurative, expectorant, and laxative. The powdered root used in asthama, bronchitis, and dyspepsia. The leaves are useful in the treatment of paralysis, arthralegia, swellings, and intermittent fevers. The flowers are bitter, digestive, astringent, stomachic, anthelmintic, and tonic . Calotropis is also a reputed Homoeopathic drug . The milk obtained from the leaves and bark are useful in treating corn on skin permanently.

''Calotropis'' yields a durable fiber useful for ropes, carpets, fishing nets, and sewing thread. Floss, obtained from seeds, is used for stuffing purposes. Fermented mixture of Calotropis and salt is used to remove the hair from goat skins for production of "nari leather" and of sheep skins to make leather which is much used for inexpensive book-binding . Fungicidal and insecticidal properties of Calotropis have been reported .

Allelopathic effects of Calotropis on different agricultural crops have not been well studied. Extracts of different plant parts viz. root, stem, leaf, and stem+leaf of Calatropis affect germination and seedling vigor of many agricultural crops have been reported . However, extracts of Calatropis failed to produce any detrimental effects on weeds such as ''Chenopodium album'', ''Melilotus alba'', ''Melilotus indica'', ''Sphaeranthus indicus'', and ''Phalaris minor'' .