Calotropis gigantea
COMMON NAME | Crown Flower or
giant milkweed |
TYPE | Shrub |
FAMILY | Apocynaceae |
NOTES | A large shrub growing
to 13 ft tall. It has clusters of waxy flowers that are either white or
lavender in color. Each flower consists of five pointed petals and a small
"crown" rising from the center which holds the stamens. They were
favored by the Hawaiian Queen Liliuokalani, who considered them a symbol of
royalty and wore them strung into leis. This giant milkweed is an important
larval plant for Hawaii's resident monarch butterflies. |
GEOGRAPHIC REGION | Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, China, Pakistan, Nepal, Booc Booc in
Somalia and tropical Africa |
NATIVE HABITAT | Dry coastal areas,
along the sheltered shores of lagoons, overgrazed pasture land. |
WEB SOURCES |
