Calotropis procera (PROSEA)

Plant Resources of South-East Asia Introduction

List of species

Calotropis procera (Aiton) Aiton f.

Protologue: Hort. kew. 2, 2: 78 (1810).

Synonyms

• Asclepias procera Aiton (1789).

Vernacular names

• Apple of Sodom, rubberbush, calotropis (En).
• Calotrope (Fr)
• Laos: kok may, dok kap, dok hak
• Vietnam: bồng bồng, lá nhỏ.

Distribution

From tropical and subtropical Africa, through Saudi-Arabia and the Middle East to the Indian subcontinent, Indo-China and Thailand, and introduced in drier areas of Australia, Central and South America and the Mascarene Islands. Probably also introduced or spread to South-East Asia.

Uses

In Africa and India, the latex is used as a rubefacient and to extract guinea worms. The dried root bark is used in a soup to treat colic and as a stomachic. The burnt root is made into an ointment for skin eruptions and ulcers.

Observations

• A large erect shrub up to 4 m tall, stems much branched at the base.
• Leaves oblong-obovate to broadly obovate, 9-15 cm × 5-10 cm, sessile.
• Cymes 4-10 cm in diameter, peduncle 5-8.5 cm long, pedicel 1.5-4 cm long.
• Calyx lobes ovate-lanceolate, 5-6 mm × 3-4 mm, corolla 2.5 cm in diameter, lobes ovate-lanceolate, 6-8 mm × 4-5 mm, cream or greenish-white at the base and purple-violet towards the tip of the lobes, corona with 5 broad scales, adnate to and equalling or longer than the staminal column, basal horn incurved, bifid, without auricles, cream coloured, glabrous.
• Follicles often in pairs, subglobose to obliquely ovoid, inflated, 6-12.5 cm × 3-7 cm.

C. procera is common in semi-arid conditions on sandy soils, and a weed in cropped land.

Selected sources

• [38] Akhtar, M. & Alam, M.M., 1989. Evaluation of nematicidal potential in some medicinal plants. International Nematology Network Newsletter 6(1): 8—10.
• [66] Atal, C.K. & Sethi, P.D., 1962. Proteolytic activity of some Indian plants. II. Isolation, properties and kinetic studies of calotropain. Planta Medica 10: 77—90.
• [92] Basu, A. & Chaudhuri, A.K., 1991. Preliminary studies on the antiinflammatory and analgesic activities of Calotropis procera root extract. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 31(3): 319—324.
• [185] Chen, K.K., Bliss, C.I. & Brown Robbins, E., 1942. The digitalis-like principles of Calotropis compared with other cardiac substances. Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapy 74: 223—234.
• [249] Desta, B., 1993. Ethiopian traditional herbal drugs. Part II: Antimicrobial activity of 63 medicinal plants. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 39(2): 129—139.
• [255] Dieye, A.M., Tidjani, M.A., Diouf, A., Bassene, E. & Faye, B., 1993. Senegalese pharmacopoeia: study of acute toxicity and antitussive activity of Calotropis procera Ait. (Asclepiadaceae). Dakar Medical 38(1): 69—72. (in French)
• [532] Khurana, S.M.P. & Singh, S., 1972. Studies on Calotropis procera latex as inhibitor of tobacco mosaic virus. Phytopathologische Zeitschrift 73(4): 341—346.
• [572] Kumar, V.L. & Basu, N., 1994. Anti-inflammatory activity of the latex of Calotropis procera. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 44(2): 123—125.
• [683] Mohamed, M.A., O'Connor, C.B. & Kebede, S., 1997. Assessment of chemical composition and yield of Queso blanco (White cheese) made with Calotropis procera and lemon juices. Journal of Food Science and Technology 34(6): 523—525.
• [696] Morton, J.F., 1981. Atlas of medicinal plants of Middle America. Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, United States. 1420 pp.
• [760] Oliver-Bever, B., 1986. Medicinal plants in tropical West Africa. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom. 375 pp.
• [788] Pételot, A., 1952—1954. Les plantes médicinales du Cambodge, du Laos et du Vietnam [The medicinal plants of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam]. 4 volumes. Centre National de Recherches Scientifiques et Techniques, Saigon, Vietnam.
• [891] Sen, T., Basu, A. & Chaudhuri, A.K., 1998. Studies on the possible mechanism of the gastric mucosal protection by Calotropis procera - involvement of 5-lipoxygenase pathway. Fundamental and Clinical Pharmacology 12(1): 82—87.
• [973] Suri, S.S. & Ramawat, K.G., 1996. Effect of Calotropis latex on laticifers differentiation in callus cultures of Calotropis procera. Biologia Plantarum (Prague) 38(2): 185—190.

Main genus page

• Calotropis

Authors

• R. Kiew