Calotropis.] LV. ASCLEPIADE^l. 331 



3. CALOTROPIS, R. Brown. 



Corolla-tube broad-campanulate, lobes ovate. Stamens connate. Corona 

 of 5 laterally compressed fleshy appendages, adnate to the back of the 

 staminal tube, the lower end free and incurved. Anthers continued into 

 a broad membranous appendix, incumbent on the stigma j pollen-masses 

 10, pendulous, in pairs, flat, stipitate. Stigma pentagonous. Follicles 

 broad, semiovate. 



Corolla somewhat saccate at base, segments spreading, appendages 



of corona truncate at apex ; flower-buds ovoid . .1. C. gigantea. 



Corolla-segments erect ; appendages of corona acute at apex ; flower- 

 buds hemispherical . . . . . . . . 2. C. procera. 



1. C. gigantea, R. Br. ; Wight 111. t. 155 Syn. Asclepias gigantea, 

 Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 30. Sans. Arka. Vern. Madar, safed-ak, N.W.P. 



Young shoots, inflorescence, and under side of leaves covered with soft 

 white adpressed woolly tomentum. Leaves 4-8 in. long, obovate or obo- 

 vate-oblong, short-acuminate, sessile or subsessile, with a narrow, cordate, 

 often amplexicaul base. Flowers purplish-lilac or white, inodorous, with 

 a grey down outside, on pedicels twice their length, in axillary pedun- 

 culate corymbs ; flower-buds ovoid ; corolla-lobes spreading or reflexed. 

 Appendages of corona elongated, longer than staminal column, their 

 length twice or more than twice their breadth, always hairy. 



Common in South and Central India, Burma and Bengal. Gorakhpur, Oudh, 

 and in great profusion in an isolated locality in the Siwalik tract near Kali- 

 dungi, below Naini Tal. Ceylon and Indian Archipelago. One of the most 

 common plants in dry waste places. Fl. nearly throughout the year. A large 

 shrub, with thick herbaceous branches, stem 12-18 in. girth, bark thick, soft, 

 ash-coloured, wrinkled. 



A fine strong silky flax from the inner bark was formerly made into cloth for 

 princes and nobles. Used for bow-strings, fishing lines and nets ; does not easily 

 rot in water. The hair of the seeds is said to be made into thread in Borneo ; 

 attempts to weave it have been made in Madras. Gunpowder charcoal is made 

 of the young branches in Kattiawar and in the Dekkan. All parts of the plant 

 are full of acrid milk, which has powerful medicinal qualities. 



2. C. procera, R. Br. ; Ham. in Linn. Soc. Trans, xiv. 246. Vern. 

 Spahvakka, Afg. ; Ak, ak, mudar, North India. 



Young leaves hoary, glabrous when full-grown, inflorescence clothed 

 with white woolly tomentum. Leaves 4-9 in. long, thick, subcoriaceous, 

 ovate obovate or obovate-oblong, acute, sessile or subsessile, with a cor- 

 date base. Flowers purplish red, pale silvery outside, with a strong, not 

 unpleasant smell, on pedicels twice their length, in terminal and axil- 

 lary corymbose cymes. Flower-buds hemispherical; corolla campanulate, 

 lobes erect. Appendages of corona broad, not longer than staminal 

 column, nearly as broad as long, glabrous, rarely pubescent. 



Common in the Punjab, Sindh (in places), the trans-Indus territory, ascend- 

 ing to 3500 ft., in the sub-Himalayan tract to the Sardah river, between Indus 



