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Calotropis gigantea
Also called Bowstring Hemp, Crownflower, Crownplant, Giant Milkwood, Crown Milkweed, Crown Flower, Giant Milk Weed
In Singapore: Crown Flower, Remiga, Merigu, Giant Indian Milkweed, Giant Milkweed, Ivory Plant, Swallow-wort, Asclepiad Tree, Kayu Berduri, Kemengu, Rembaga, 牛角瓜, 大皇冠花 (Grown in Singapore)
Calotropis gigantea is a large, fast-growing shrub or small tree in the dogbane family, with waxy white or lavender flowers and milky sap. It thrives in hot, dry, sunny sites and is very tolerant of drought and poor soil.
Calotropis gigantea, the crown flower, is a species of Calotropis native to India, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, China, Pakistan, and Nepal.
Calotropis is a poisonous plant. The active principles are uscharin, calotoxin, calactin, and calotropin. The leaves and stem when incised yield thick milky juice. It is used as an arrow poison, cattle poison (see also Sutari), rarely for suicide and homicide and mostly an accidental poison.
The milky latex sap of Calotropis gigantea is a known cause of toxic keratoconjunctivitis and reversible vision loss. Crown flower keratitis is a rare condition and is usually the result of accidental ocular exposure to the sap. During the process of making a Hawaiian lei flower necklace, touching the sap and then touching the ocular surface may result in crown flower keratitis. Damage (poisoning) of the cornea endothelium results in corneal stromal edema and decreased visual acuity. Although there is some permanent damage to the corneal endothelium with decreased endothelial cell count and irregular shape, the remaining corneal endothelial cells usually recover with complete resolution of the corneal edema and a return to normal visual acuity.
The flowers are long lasting, and in Thailand they are used in floral arrangements. The extract of flowers and leaves has shown hypoglycemic effect in preclinical studies. They were favored by the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani, who considered them a symbol of royalty and wore them strung into leis. In Cambodia, they are used in funerals to decorate the urn or sarcophagus and the interior of the house holding the funeral.
[Contains information from Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Heritage Trees from data.gov.sg (National Parks Board), made available under the terms of the Singapore Open Data Licence version 1.0]
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Calotropis gigantea by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
