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Scientific name:    Calotropis Procera

Family:                  Milkweed             

Common name:     Kapok tree, King's crown, Cabbage tree, Rubber tree, Sodom apple, Rooster tree, Mudar.

Arabic name:         Ashar

Habitat:

A widely distributed plant throughout the Arabian Peninsula, common in tropical Africa, Iran, Pakistan, India.

Description:

The shrub grows wild in the sandy plains of the United Arab Emirates. The bark is rough, cracked, corky and whitish and sometimes with a greenish tinge. The green leaves are very conspicuous, thick and tough with a powdery and waxy coating.

Flowers & Fruits:

The flowers are beautiful star shaped with a dominance of purple and waxy green and white colors, approx. 3 cm.

The fruit is a comparatively big (8-10 cm), green, banana / mango shaped, air-filled follicle. As the fruit matures and dries, the follicles burst open shooting the seeds in the sky, which will remain floating by a fine parachute mechanism and carried over far distances by the wind. Being a member of the milkweed family it produces a milky sap or latex, which is considered “poisonous”. It is advisable to avoid touching broken twig or leaf hence the milky substance might cause skin irritation!

 Economic importance:

In Arabia, India and parts of Africa some chemicals are extracted from the plant and are used in medicines for the treatment of asthma, elephantiasis and leprosy, and is efficacious in cases of chronic eczema, also for diarrhea and dysentery.

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