LXXXm. ASCLEPlADACE.Ti;. 151 



7. CALOTROPIS, K. Br. 



Large erect shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite, broad, subsessile. 

 Flowers of medium size, iu umbellate or subracemose lateral pedunculate 

 cymes. Cal^'x of 5 distinct sepals, glandular inside, broadly ovate. 

 Corolla broadly campanulate or subrotate, divided more than ^"^^'^7 

 down ; lobes broad, naked, valvate ; corona of 5 fleshy laterally com- 

 pressed lobes, adnate to and standing out as wide buttresses from the 

 staininal-coluran with an upcurved and involute spur at the base and 

 bitid at, or with 2 obtuse auricles a little below, the apex. Anthers short 

 and broad, with short broad membranous appendages inflexed over the 

 depressed pentagonal summit of the style-apex ; pollen-masses solitary 

 in each anther-cell, pendulous, attached to the pollen-carriers by short 

 slender caudicles. follicles short, thick, not echinate. Seeds comose. 

 — DiSTRiB. Species 4, of which 3 are couflned to India, S. China, and 

 the Malay Archipelago, the other extending into Africa. 



CoroDa-]obes narrow, shorter than the staminal-cohiiun, with 2 



obtuse auricles just below the entire apex 1. C. giyantca. 



Corona-lobes broad, equalling or longer than the staminal-column, 



without auricles below the bifid apex 2. C. procera. 



1. Calotropis gigantea, B. Br. in Ait. Ilort. Kew. ed. 2, v. 2 

 (1811) p. 78. A tali shrub reaching 8-10 ft. high ; bark yellowish- 

 white, furrowed ; branches stout, terete, more or less covered (especially 

 the younger ones) with fine appressed cottony pubescence. Leaves 

 4-8 by H-4 in., sessile or nearly so, elliptic-ttblong or obovate-oblong, 

 acute, thick, glaucous-green, clothed beneath and more or less above 

 with fine cottony tomeutum ; base ]iarrovv, cordate, sometimes amplexi- 

 caul. Flowers inodorous, purplish or white, 1^-2 in. in diam., in um- 

 bellate lateral cymes ; peduncles from between the petioles, 2-3| in. 

 long, dilated at the base ; pedicels much longer than the flowers, covered 

 w ith cottony wool ; buds ovoid. Calyx divided to the base ; sepals 4 by 

 ^ in., ovate, acute, cottony. Corolla f in. long or more ; lobes ^-| in. 

 long, deltoid-ovate, subacute, re volute and tuisted in age; lobes of the 

 corona g in. long by I in. broad in the middle, shorter than the column, 

 the back much curved towards tlie column above the obtuse spur, 

 pubescent on the slightly thickened margin, the apex rounded (not 

 bifid) with 2 obtuse auricles just below it, Folhcles 3^-4 in. long, 

 broad, thick, fleshy, ventricose, green. Seeds numerous, | by | in-, 

 broadly ovate, flattened, narrowly margined, minutely tomentose, brown ; 

 coma 1-1| in. long. M. B. 1. v. 4, p. 17 ; Grab. Cat. p. 120 ; Dalz. & 

 Gibs. p. 149 ; Wight, 111. tt. 155, 156 A ; Trim. Fl. Ceyl. v. 3, p. 148 ; 

 Talb. Trees, Bomb. ed. 2, p. 234 ; Woodr. in Journ. Bomb. Nat. v. 12 

 ( 1898) p. 166 ; Watt, Diet. Econ. Prod. v. 2, p. 34.— Flowers : Feb;- 

 July. Vebn. A'l- ; Mdddr ; Bui. 



Throughout the Presidency, a common weed in waste places. Konkan : Balzell ^ 

 Gibson. Deccan : J. G. Woodrowl S. M. Country: Belgaum district, TulboL 

 Kanara : Kala naddi, Ritchie, 424 ! Gujarat : W'oof/;-ow.— Distrib. Throughout 

 India; Ceylon, Malay Islands, S. China. 



All parts of the plant are useful. The stems yield a valuable fibre which is however 

 difficult to extract, though experiments have often been made with this object. The 

 floss from the seeds is soft and very white and is employed for stuffing pillows. The 

 milky sap furnishes a kind of guttapercha, and is used as well as the root-b.irk 

 medicinally. The wood has been used for gunpowder-charcoal. See Watt, Diet. 

 Econ. Prod. 1. c. 



