Calotropis gigantea, Crown flower, Giant milkweed, Widuri, Bow-string hemp

Calotropis gigantea, commonly called crown flower or giant milkweed, is a large shrub or small tree belonging to Asclepiadaceae or Milkweed or Ak family which includes 280 genera and 2,000 species of worldwide distribution but is most abundant in the sub-tropics and tropics, and rare in cold countries. The plant is native to continental Asia and South-East Asia and has been introduced in the Pacific Islands, Australia, Central, and northern South America, and Africa as an ornamental near villages and temples and as a weed. In Africa, it is recorded from Gabon, DR Congo, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Angola, and Mozambique, as well as from Seychelles and Mauritius.

The name of the genus is the combination of the Greek adjective “καλός” (kalós) which means beautiful and of the substantive “τρόπις” (trópis) that means keel, with reference to the shape of a segment of the staminal crown.  The specific name is the Latin adjective “giganteus, a, um” which means huge, with obvious reference. Apart from the crown flower, it is also known as Giant Milkweed, Crown Flower, Giant Calotrope, Swallow-wort, Calotropis gigantean, Biduri, Indian milkweed, Kapal Kapal, Kayu berduri, Kemengu, Lechoso, Pua kalaunu, Rak-dok, Rembaga, Remiga, Widuri, Bow-string hemp, Crown-flower, Akon, bowstring hemp, allotrope, crown plant, giant milkweed and giant rubber bush.

Plant description

A Crown flower is an attractive, fast-growing, large flowering shrub or small evergreen tree that grows about 5 meters tall, occasionally to 10 meters. The plant is found growing in roadsides, disturbed areas, watercourses, river flats, dry coastal areas, along the sheltered shores of lagoons, overgrazed pasture land, hot, sunny, dry environments, wasteland, urban open spaces, fallow land, croplands, gullies, lowlands and floodplains. The plant succeeds in a variety of soils but prefers littoral, sandy soils. Plants can also thrive in dry sands.

Root bark

The taproots are found to be having prominent tops with rounded heads and the rest of the portion spirally curved.  These hard roots are grayish white in color and exhibit sap exudations at the places where the bark has been cut. The bark of the older roots is cracked at places. The bark is yellowish grey outside and yellowish white inside. The upper cork portion is spongy and rough while the inner portion of bark is smooth and mucilaginous. The dried bark is bitter to taste.

Leaves

The opposite leaves are oblong obovate to nearly orbicular, short-pointed to blunt at the apex and have very short petioles below a nearly clasping heart-shaped base. The leaf blades are light to dark green with nearly white veins. They are 7 to 18 cm long and 5 to 13 cm broad, slightly leathery, and have a fine coat of soft hairs that rub off. Leaves are pale green above, whitish green below, due to the presence of a fine down, and with prominent veins. The tender leaves are covered with ashy gray pubescence. Mature leaves are nearly smooth or even glabrous.

Flower

The inflorescences, on a robust, 5-16 cm long, peduncle, are axillar umbelliform cymes bearing numerous flowers, on a 2-5 cm long tomentose pedicel. Flowers are regular, bisexual, liliac or pale rose, purple or light greenish yellow and have a faint odor. They  are  arranged  in  simple  or  rarely compound cymose corymbs at the ends of laterally  placed  or  interpetiolar  peduncles arising from  alternate  sides  of  the  nodes.  Each cluster is surrounded by an involucre of several small oblong pointed scaly caducous bracts.  Flower buds are ovoid.

Calyx

Calyx has five lobes broadly ovate with small fleshy teeth like glands within the base.

Corolla

Corolla is regular, gamopetalous, pale rose purple or liliac, sub cordate to broadly sub- campanulate with a short tube and five broad ovate, lanceolate, valvate, spreading lobes.

Stamens

About five stamens are inserted at the base of the Coro. Filaments united to form a large stamina column provided with five conspicuous radiating coronal appendages that are completely adnate to, but slightly shorter than the column.  The appendages are fleshy, pale purplish or yellowish white, and laterally compressed with a circinnately recurved hollow corsal spur at the base and two short obtuse obliquely divergent cuticles towards the top just below the apex. Anthers are short, broad, and somewhat horny with broadly triangular membranous anther tips that are inflexed over the sides of the stigmatic hood. Flowering normally takes place from March to October.

Fruits

Fertile flowers are followed by spongy, ellipsoid follicles in pair, curved, 5-10 cm long and of 2.5-5 cm of diameter, containing several seeds. They split opens to release ovate, flat seeds, about 0.6 cm long and 0.4 cm broad, equipped at one end with a tuft of silky hairs, 2-4 cm long, that favor their dispersion through the wind.

Ethno medicinal uses of different plant parts of Calotropis gigantea

Percentage of ethno medicinal uses of different plant parts of C. gigantea against total number of uses

Health benefits of Crown flower

Listed below are some of the well-known health benefits of using Crown flower

1. Treat Diabetes

It is curious to know that the Crown flower has certain anti-diabetic agents that are hailed for having a good influence on Diabetes. Recent studies quote that the leaves and flower of Crown flower have some potential anti-diabetic agents that can treat diabetes with ease. It has certain properties that can enhance the sensitivity of insulin and stimulate the production of inulin simultaneously.

2. Good anti-inflammatory nature

The anti-inflammatory nature of the Crown flower helps us treat inflammatory diseases such as gout and rheumatism. Warm the crushed leaves and apply it on painful joints for immediate relief.

3. Rid Blemishes of the skin

You may apply the latex of the plant mixed with turmeric to the facial skin to get rid of discoloration and blemishes. You can add suitable churna and cure vitiligo.

4. Treat Ear pain

To get a cure for ear disorders or pain in the ear, use yellow Crown flower leaves. Wash the leaves in water and extract the juice after you dry them. To 1 tablespoon of the juice, add 1 tablespoon of sesame oil. Add Cinnamon, asafoetida, calamus, and garlic (1/4 teaspoon each) to the mixture.

Cool, strain, and store it for use as ear drops. Or, you can use the leaves roasted with ghee to make the juice. Then, use it as ear drops. You can also cure deafness by taking the juice from a yellow leaf and putting it in the ear.

5. Helps bowel movement

The preparations of the Crown flower plant help ease constipation.

6. Improve speed of healing

Calotropis Gigantea helps improve the healing of the superficial wounds on the skin.

7. Excellent vermifuge

Like the flower, the Crown flower’s leaves also find use in curing worm infestations.

8. Cure for boils

Take the latex of the Calotropis Gigantea tree. Mix it with turmeric and apply it on the affected area.

9. Hypoglycemic effect

The Crown flower leaves find a use for controlling the high levels of sugar in the blood.

10. Vomit therapy

Latex of the Crown flower’s leaves can cause vomiting and purgation. Hence, it finds use in purgation and vomiting therapy.

11. Cure foot blister

You get immediate relief for foot blister by applying the latex of the Crown flower tree.

12. Cure cholera

Take the dried bark of the Crown flower plant and powder it. To this, we add pepper powder and ginger juice. We roll it into small tablets the size of a pea. Take the tablet every two hours with mint juice. This will help cure the fever.

13. Antidote for snake poison

During the olden times, people chewed the leaves of the Calotropis Gigantea plant and applied the latex over the wound of a snake bite.

14. Relief for a toothache

We apply the latex on the gums to get relief from a toothache.

15. Relief from gastritis

They process the leaves of the Crown flower plant and use it to get relief from gastritis.

16. Cure for chronic diarrhea and indigestion

Use the preparations of the Crown flower plant to cure diarrhea that is long lasting. It settles the stomach and helps augment the digestive process.

17. Use as an abortifacient

Milky discharge of the Crown flower plant is an abortifacient. So, women who want to abort their child will use the latex preparations.

18. Spasmogenic property

The preparations of the plant are capable of Spasmogenic effect. So, it finds use in the treatment of a variety of diseases.

19. Treat sexually transmitted diseases

People use the white flowers of the Crown flower plant for treating diseases such as syphilis.

20. Good anti-fungal property

You can treat diseases such as candida by using the Sodom plant preparations. The medicine can prove poisonous if you overdose so be careful.

Traditional uses and benefits of Crown flower (Sodom)

• The plant reportedly has antifungal and insecticidal properties.
• In traditional medicine, the crown flower is used as a treatment for common diseases such as fever, coughs and colds, eczema, rheumatism, nausea, and diarrhea.
• Latex is also used for treatment for sprains, boils, body pains, and pimples.
• Milky sap (latex) clots when warm and is said to have similar cardiac properties to digitalis (from various Digitalis spp.).
• It is used in the treatment of a variety of other conditions including dysentery, leprosy, elephantiasis, epilepsy, asthma and many other complaints.
• Mixed with salt, it is taken orally as an emetic for treating severe colds.
• Latex is applied to sprains, body pains, boils and pimples in Nepal.
• Milky latex is used externally to stop bleeding, and for treating a wide range of conditions including leprosy, rheumatism, ringworm, boils, scabies, stings, burns, bruises, cuts, sores and wounds.
• It is applied to the gums and teeth to treat caries and toothaches.
• Bark is used as a medicine for the treatment of neuro dermatitis and syphilis.
• Powdered bark is used to treat diarrhea, dysentery, elephantiasis, and leprosy.
• Stem bark is diaphoretic and expectorant, and is used for dysentery, spleen complaints, convulsions, lumbago, scabies, ringworm, pneumonia, and to induce labor.
• An infusion of the leaves is used to treat severe chest colds and heart conditions.
• Leaf juice is used in the treatment of intermittent fever.
• Smoke of dried, burned leaves is inhaled to calm asthma attacks.
• Crushed leaves are warmed and used as a poultice on sores, burns, headaches and rheumatic pains.
• Powdered flowers are valued for treating coughs, colds and asthma.
• An infusion is taken to treat intestinal worms, rheumatism and epileptic attacks.
• Juice of young buds is dropped into the ear in the treatment of earache.
• Sap is used in treating leprosy and as a purgative.
• Bark and Latex is used to treat skin diseases and as a vermifuge.
• Root bark has been substituted for ipecac, especially to treat dysentery; also used in treating skin disease.
• Bark of the species is used as a medicine for the treatment of neuro dermatitis and syphilis, and the leaves are used as a poultice in China.
• Young fruits are boiled in water and a paste prepared which is applied on the body to remove blood clots.
• Latex obtained from the plant is used to induce vomiting as well as purgation.
• It helps in relieving bloating, flatulence and abdominal distension as a result of improper digestion of food.
• It is also effective in treating ascites in which there can be large abdominal distension due to the accumulation of fluid in the abdominal region.
• It improves appetite thus fighting anorexia and disinterest in consuming food.
• It helps in healthy working of the respiratory system, helping in diseases like common cold, cough, asthma and other similar respiratory problems.
• Leaves and latex are used as an antidote for snake poison.
• Leaves can be boiled and used as a hot poultice to relieve stomach pains, headaches and sprains.
• Tincture made from the leaves is said to be good for fevers.
• Parts of the plant are also given as an aphrodisiac and a sedative, and as it was found to stimulate the blood flow, it probably can help men with erectile dysfunctions.
• Skin from the root is used in decoction for skin problems.
• Root was used for the treatment of eczema, leprosy, elephantiasis, asthma, cough, rheumatism and diarrhea.
• Tender leaves of C. gigantea are also used to cure migraine.
• It is also used as a remedy for black scars of face, boils, cold, cough, asthma, ear-ache, eczema, skin eruptions, inflammatory lesions, pains, rheumatism, syphilis, leprosy and edema.
• It has also been used as an antiseptic for skin infection, laxative, ear drops and anti-fertility agent.
• Root bark and leaves have been used by various tribes of central India as a curative agent for jaundice.
• In Ayurveda, Indian practitioners have used the root and leaf in asthma and shortness of breath and the bark in liver and spleen diseases.
• The plant is reported as effective in treating skin, digestive, respiratory, circulatory, and neurological disorders and was used to treat fevers, elephantiasis, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

Ayurvedic Health benefits of Crown flower

• Ascites: Apply the latex of Sodom locally on the affected areas.
• Leprosy: Use the latex of the Sodom plant on the affected skin.
• Leucoderma: Apply the latex of Sodom on the skin patches.
• Ringworms: Apply the milky fluid of the Sodom plant over infected skin.
• Stings: Locally apply the milk fluid of the Sodom plant on the damaged skin.
• Deafness: Take a ripe yellow leaf of Sodom. Warm it. Squeeze the leaf juice drops in the ears. Use it for 2 weeks.
• Caries: Apply the latex of Sodom on the affected teeth.
• Gastroenteritis: Roast the leaves of Sodom and apply locally.
• Swelling: Apply the roasted leaves of Sodom over the affected area.
• Headache: Warm the leaves of Sodom. Tie it with a cotton cloth on the forehead.
• Antidote: Chew 4 leaves of Sodom once a day. OR: Crush roots of Sodom and apply it over bitten area.
• Fever: Mix equal quantity leaf juice of Sodom with
• . Take 1 tsp. of it repeatedly after 1 hour.
• Aphthous Ulcers: Add 1 tsp. Honey in the same quantity latex of Sodom. Apply it over affected areas.
• Ascaris: Consume a mixture of Sodom leaf juice and honey twice a day.
• Dental Diseases: Externally apply latex of Sodom plant over Dental Problems.
• Analgesic: Apply Latex of Sodom over painful areas.
• Tumor: Consume 3 ml root extract of Sodom. Have it once a day.
• Diabetes: Consume 1 g dry latex of Sodom twice a week.
• Liver Disease: Take some leaves and flowers of Sodom. Make its decoction. Have 10 ml of it twice a day.
• Malaria: Pluck a leaf of Sodom and collect a drop of the milky sap in a spoon. Add some palm jaggery and make a small pill. Ask the Malaria patient to swallow this pill on empty stomach. (Note: Pluck the leaf before sunrise as after sunrise that milky sap turns poisonous.)
• Abscess: Mix the latex of Sodom with Turmeric powder to make a paste. Apply it over the affected areas
• Abscess: Soak a few Carom seeds in the latex of Sodom overnight. Roast the soaked seeds over the flame. Grind them to make a fine powder. Mix 1 tsp. of the powder with Yogurt. Apply it on the damaged skin.
• Acne: Mix some Carom seeds with the milky sap of Sodom. Leave it overnight. Roast the soaked seeds and grind them. Mix 1 tsp. of the powder with Yogurt. Apply it to the affected areas.
• Asthma: Take equal quantities of Sodom flowers, Clove and Black Pepper. Grind them together. Mix a pinch of this mixture with lukewarm water. Drink this water once a day. (Caution: Do not use in excess as it may cause Diarrhea or Vomiting.)
• Bronchitis: Grind the root bark of Sodom. Mix it with Date Palm sugar. Take a pinch of it during bedtime with warm milk. (Caution: Excess use may cause Diarrhea.)
• Cold: Mix Date Palm sugar with Sodom root barks powder. Take 2 pinches of it with warm milk at night
• Cough: Take root bark of Sodom. Grind it to make powder. Add Date Palm sugar to it. Take a quarter tsp. of the mixture with warm milk during bedtime. Use it once a day.
• Fatigue: Take a mixture of Date Palm sugar and Sodom root bark powder during bedtime. (Caution: Excess use may cause Vomiting.)
• Insect Bites: Make a mixture of Sodom root bark powder and Date Palm sugar by taking them in equal ratios. Take 1/4 tsp. with warm milk at night. Use it for 4 days.
• Leprosy: Take root bark powder of Sodom. Add the same quantity of Date Palm sugar in it. Take a pinch of it with warm milk after dinner. (Caution: Do not use repeatedly, as it may cause Diarrhea.)
• Cholera: Grind the root and bark of Sodom to make a fine powder. Add some Ginger juice and Black Pepper. Mix properly to make a thick paste. Make pea-sized pills of it. Make a decoction of Cardamom and Mint leaves. Take 1 pill with the decoction after every 2 hours. Use it for 5 days.
• Cold: Take boiled rice in a cup. Add 5 ml Sodom latex. Put it under the sun to dry for 1 week. Repeat the whole process by adding 15 ml latex. Grind to make powder. Add some Camphor powder to it. Use it as snuff.
• Cough: Add 1 tsp. the milky sap of Sodom in 1 cup boiled rice. Dry it under the sun for 7 days. Now again add 3 tsp. latex in it and dry again. Grind to make powder. Add camphor powder in it and use as snuff.
• Colic: Take 4 g of Sodom flower, black salt, and carom seeds. Add 8 g dried Ginger in it. Grind them to make powder. Make a thick paste by adding Lime juice in it. Make small pills of equal size with it. Take 1 pill per day with warm water.
• Stomach Ache: Grind 1 tsp. of Sodom flower, black salt, Carom seeds and 2 tsp. of dried Ginger to make powder. Make dough-like consistency by adding Lime juice in it. Make pills of it. Have one pill per day with warm water.
• Earache: Extract the juice of ripe yellow leaves of Sodom. Take a quarter teaspoon of it and add the same amount of Sesame Oil. Now, add a quarter teaspoon of Sweet Flag powder, Cinnamon, Garlic, and 2 teaspoons of Asafoetida powder. Boil the mixture until it gets thick. Filter it through a piece of cloth. Cool it and use it as ear drops.
• Ear Discharge: Mix 3 g of each of Sodom leaves juice, Sesame Oil, powder of Sweet Flag, Cinnamon and Garlic. Add 12 g Asafoetida powder in it. Boil until it gets thick. Filter through a piece of cloth. Cool it and use it as an ear drop.
• Headache: Take 500 ml of Sesame oil. Add two tbsp. of Sodom flower juice, Turmeric powder, Garlic paste, Black pepper powder each. Boil over a low flame till it thickens. Cool. Put it in a bottle. Take 3-4 tbsp. of oil and massage the scalp with it. Use thrice a week
• Asthma: Take an equal quantity of Emetic Nuts, Sodom Root and Licorice. Grind them together. Have 2 pinches once a day with water.
• Cold: Take Emetic Nuts, Licorice, and Sodom in equal quantity. Powder them together. Have one pinch once a day. It gives relief in Cold conditions.
• Bronchitis: Mix dried Sodom flowers, Black Pepper, and Clove in 4:2:1 ratio. Grind them to make powder. Consume 3 g of it with lukewarm water.
• Earache: Take 125 gm. juice of Datura Stramonium leaves and the same amount of Sesame Oil. Mix well. Boil in a tin vessel for 5 to 10 minutes on medium flame till the juice remains half. Add 5 top 6 leaves of Sodom and a pinch of salt in it. Boil till it gets a thick consistency. Strain and let it cool. Put 2 to 3 drops of this solution in the affected areas twice a day.
• Asthma: Take Ziziphus Xylopyrus roots, Sodom stem bark, Erythroxylum monogram stem bark, Indian Kino stem bark, and 10 dry Cayenne Pepper. Grind them all to make a fine powder. Consume a quarter teaspoon of each of herb powder for 3 days with 1 liter of water, once a day.

Other Facts

• Crown flower produces a durable fiber known as ‘Bowstring of India’ used in making ropes and carpets among others.
• Wood is used as fuel and made into charcoal.
• Leaves can be used for mulching, green manuring of rice fields, and for binding sandy soil.
• The plant is sometimes grown as a hedge.
• Fine fiber is obtained from the bark of the stems.
• It is much used for making textiles, fishing nets, and bowstrings.
• Mature seedpods consist of a large quantity of floss, which has a variety of uses it can be used to stuff pillows etc., or mixed with other fibers to make cloth.
• It is a Kapok substitute, being very water repellent it can be used as a buoyancy aid in Life Jackets or as a stuffing material.
• Floss absorbs oil whilst repelling water and so has also been used to mop up oil spills at sea.
• Candlewicks can be made from seed floss.
• Twigs are used as chew sticks for cleaning the teeth.
• Juice is used in making a yellow dye and in tanning.
• Wood is sometimes used for fuel, but it is of poor quality.
• Good quality charcoal is obtained from wood and can be used for making gunpowder.
• Attractive flowers are long-lasting and used for floral arrangements.
• May exhibit mosquito controlling properties against Culex gelidus and Culex tritaeniorhynchus mosquitoes which serve as vectors for Japanese encephalitis.
• They were preferred by the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani, who considered them a symbol of royalty and wore them strung into leis.
• They are used in funerals to decorate the urn or sarcophagus and the interior of the house holding the funeral in Cambodia.
• Calotropis yields a durable fiber useful for ropes, carpets, fishing nets, and sewing thread.
• Floss, obtained from seeds, is used as stuffing.
• The fermented mixture of Calotropis and salt is used to remove the hair from goat skins for the production of Nari leather and from sheep skins to make leather which is much used for inexpensive book binding.
• In East Africa the wood is also used as a toothbrush.

Precautions

• Sap (latex) is somewhat poisonous.
• It is used for poisoning arrows.
• All parts of the plant are toxic, due to the presence of several cardiac glycosides.
• The plant is also known to cause allergic contact dermatitis, and latex causes kerato-conjunctivitis.
• Parts of plants are poisonous if ingested.
• Avoid use during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
• Excessive use is considered poisonous.
• The dosage of different parts of this herb should be carefully modulated as overdosage can induce severe vomiting and diarrhea in patients.
• It should not be given to children.

References

Previous

Euphorbia neriifolia, Indian Spurge Tree, Common milk hedge

Next

Water smartweed, Willow Grass, Longroot smartweed

Related Articles

Added to wishlistRemoved from wishlist 0

What is Dropshipping?

Added to wishlistRemoved from wishlist 0

Color meanings in business

Added to wishlistRemoved from wishlist 0

Arabic bread, Syrian bread, Lebanese bread, Pita, Pitta Bread, Pitka, Pide Bread, Pite

Added to wishlistRemoved from wishlist 0

Quail Egg, coturnix quail, Migratory Quail