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Calotropis

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Calotropis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1810. It is native to southern Asia and North Africa.[2]

Calotropis
Calotropis gigantea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Apocynaceae
Subfamily: Asclepiadoideae
Tribe: Asclepiadeae
Genus: Calotropis
R.Br.[1]

They are commonly known as milkweeds because of the latex they produce. Calotropis species are considered common weeds in some parts of the world. The flowers are fragrant and are often used in making floral tassels in some mainland Southeast Asian cultures. Fibers of these plants are called madar or mader. Calotropis species are usually found in abandoned farmland.

Botanical description

 
Calotropis procera

Calotropis gigantea and C. procera are the two most common species in the genus. Both plants can attain an average height of 8 to 10 ft (2.4 to 3.0 m) although they can occasionally become as tall as 14 to 16 ft (4.3 to 4.9 m). The leaves are sessile and sub-sessile, opposite, ovate, cordate at the base. The flowers are about 1.5 to 2 in (3.8 to 5.1 cm) in size, with umbellate lateral cymes and are colored white to pink and are fragrant in case of C. procera while the flowers of C. gigantea are without any fragrance and are white to purple colored, but in rarer cases are also light green-yellow or white. The seeds are compressed, broadly ovoid, with a tufted micropylar coma of long silky hair.[3]

Pollination is performed by bees (entomophily) by the following mechanism:

The stigmas and androecia are fused to form a gynostegium. The pollen are enclosed in pollinia (a coherent mass of pollen grains). The pollinia are attached to an adhesive glandular disc at the stigmatic angle. When a bee lands on one of these, the disc adheres to its legs, and the pollinium is detached from the flower when the bee flies away. When the bee visits another flower, the flower is pollinated by the adhering pollinium on the bee.

Species[4]
  1. Calotropis acia Buch.-Ham. - India
  2. Calotropis gigantea (L.) Dryand. - China, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia
  3. Calotropis procera (Aiton) Dryand. - China, Indian Subcontinent, Southeast Asia, Middle East, North Africa
formerly included[4]

Calotropis sussuela, synonym of Hoya imperialis

Toxicity

The milky sap of Calotropis plants is a toxic substance that can cause irritation when it comes into contact with the skin or eyes.[5][6] The sap can be collected from various parts of the plant, including the flowers, stem, and leaves.[7] The sap is extremely bitter and turns into a gluey coating that is resistant to soap, therefore it has to be treated immediately once it has fell into the eye.[8]

Calotropis species are toxic plants; calotropin, a compound in the latex, is more toxic than strychnine.[9] Calotropin is similar in structure to two cardiac glycosides which are responsible for the cytotoxicity of Apocynum cannabinum. Extracts from the flowers of Calotropis procera have shown strong cytotoxic activity.

Cattle often stay away from the plants because of their unpleasant taste and their content of cardiac glycosides.

The toxic ingredients of Calotropis plants, including Calotropis procera, can be preserved in liquid form, and they naturally disintegrate over time.[10] Calotropis leaves are used as fodder for animals once they are dried.[11][12][13] The toxic manifestations following accidental ingestion are mostly gastrointestinal [14] Therefore, it can be concluded that the milky sap of Calotropis plants is toxic, but not poisonous.

Cultural significance

The flowers of the plant are offered to the Hindu deities Shiva, Ganesha, Shani Dev and Hanuman.[15]

References

 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Calotropis.
 
Wikispecies has information related to Calotropis.
  1. ^ "Calotropis R. Br". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2003-03-13. Archived from the original on 2012-10-06. Retrieved 2010-06-26.
  2. ^ Flora of China Vol. 16 Page 202 牛角瓜属 niu jiao gua shu Calotropis R. Brown, Mem. Wern. Nat. Hist. Soc. 1: 39. 1810
  3. ^ "Calotropis gigantea: Useful Weed". NewCROP. Purdue University.
  4. ^ a b The Plant List, genus Calotropis
  5. ^ Pandey, Nidhi; Sahu, Vijaya (2015-09-30). "Calotropis procera induced ocular toxicity, manifestations and management – an observational study". International Journal of Medical Research and Review. 3 (8): 805–809. doi:10.17511/ijmrr.2015.i8.151. ISSN 2320-8686.
  6. ^ Kaur, Amarpreet; Batish, Daizy R.; Kaur, Shalinder; Chauhan, Bhagirath S. (2021). "An Overview of the Characteristics and Potential of Calotropis procera From Botanical, Ecological, and Economic Perspectives". Frontiers in Plant Science. 12: 690806. doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.690806. ISSN 1664-462X. PMC 8248367. PMID 34220914.
  7. ^ Bhatti, Muhammad Ali; Tahira, Aneela; Hullio, Ahmed Ali; Aftab, Umair; Nafady, Ayman; Vigolo, Brigitte; Ibupoto, Zafar Hussain (2023-04-10). "Oxygenated terminals of milky sap of Calotropis procera transformed 1D ZnO structure to 0D nanoparticles for enhanced photocatalytic degradation of malachite green and methylene blue". Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics. 34 (10): 929. doi:10.1007/s10854-023-10290-4. ISSN 1573-482X. S2CID 258052532.
  8. ^ "Giant Milkweed (Calotropis procera)". iNaturalist. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  9. ^ S. Morris Kupchan; John R. Knox; John E. Kelsey; J. A. Saenz Renauld (25 December 1964). "Calotropin, a Cytotoxic Principle Isolated from Asclepias curassavica L". Science. 146 (3652): 1685–6. Bibcode:1964Sci...146.1685K. doi:10.1126/science.146.3652.1685. PMID 14224519. S2CID 31489685.
  10. ^ Pandey, Nidhi; Sahu, Vijaya (2015-09-30). "Calotropis procera induced ocular toxicity, manifestations and management – an observational study". International Journal of Medical Research and Review. 3 (8): 805–809. doi:10.17511/ijmrr.2015.i8.151. ISSN 2320-8686.
  11. ^ "Calotropis (Calotropis procera) | Feedipedia". www.feedipedia.org. Retrieved 2023-08-17.
  12. ^ Kaur, A.; Batish, D. R.; Kaur, S.; Chauhan, B. S. (2021). "An Overview of the Characteristics and Potential of Calotropis procera From Botanical, Ecological, and Economic Perspectives". Frontiers in Plant Science. 12: 690806. doi:10.3389/fpls.2021.690806. PMC 8248367. PMID 34220914.
  13. ^ Adama, Kabore (2017-10-16). "Supplementation Effects of Calotropis Procera Dried Leaves on the Growth Performance of Sheep in Dry Season in Burkina Faso" (PDF). Journal of Dairy, Veterinary & Animal Research. 6 (1). doi:10.15406/jdvar.2017.06.00169. ISSN 2377-4312.
  14. ^ Reddy, C. Yadavendra (2019-07-24). "Clinical manifestations in calotropis poisoning: a prospective study in Government General Hospital Nalgonda, India". International Journal of Advances in Medicine. 6 (4): 1314–1316. doi:10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20193292. ISSN 2349-3933. S2CID 199623685.
  15. ^ AstroVed. "Favorite Flowers of Lord Ganesha". www.astroved.com. Retrieved 2022-09-13.
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