Crown flower

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Crown flower
Crownflower (Calotropis gigantea)

Crownflower ( Calotropis gigantea )

Systematics
Family : Dog poison family (Apocynaceae)
Subfamily : Silk plants (Asclepiadoideae)
Tribe : Asclepiadeae
Sub tribus : Asclepiadinae
Genre : Calotropis
Type : Crown flower
Scientific name
Calotropis gigantea
( L. ) Dryand.

The crown flower ( Calotropis gigantea ), also called Madar shrub, is a plant species in the subfamily of silk plants (Asclepiadoideae) within the family of dog poison plants (Apocynaceae).

Occurrence

Calotropis gigantea is originally native to Africa and Southeast Asia. Nowadays the crown flower is wild in many countries of the world z. B. in South America or in the Caribbean. Above all, the crown flower can be found in fallow land. B. on former sugar cane fields in the Caribbean-South American region.

description

In Calotropis gigantea is a shrub or small tree , can the stature heights of over three meters reach. The cross-opposite, sessile or short-stalked leaves are simple, tomentose, silvery-green, 9 to 15.8 cm long and 4.5 to 9.5 cm wide.

The flowers stand together in complex inflorescences . The hermaphrodite flowers are radially symmetrical and five-fold. The five free sepals are 3 to 7 mm long. The five petals fused to their base are 15 to 17 mm long. There is only one circle with five stamens. The stamens have grown together to form a tube, with the pistil and with the petals. The fleshy corolla has a length of 11 to 12 mm and a diameter of 6 to 6.5 mm (this is where this type of Calotropis procera differs in that it is shorter). Two carpels have become a top permanent ovary grown. The two styluses are fused at their tips.

Pale green, soft-skinned follicles are formed, which have a length of 70 to 100 mm and a diameter of up to 40 mm. When mature, they release many hairy seeds that are spread by the wind.

The number of chromosomes is 2n = 22.

use

Usharin, one of the active ingredients of the crown flower.

Calotropis gigantea was used in various ways in folk medicine , for example to stop bleeding , for easier births , and for termination of pregnancy . The sticky milk juice has an insecticidal effect and, due to its high content of cardiac glycosides, is toxic, but various ingredients have anti-asthmatic, sedative and anti-inflammatory effects, promote coagulation, anti-diabetic and inhibit the growth of some tumor cells. Some of the key ingredients are usharine and epi-usharine. Other components are cardenolides , pregnanones, various triterpenes , and non-proteinogenic amino acids such as giganticin.

The leaves were added to the Damascus steel . The bast fibers of the plant are used for ropes, fishing nets or paper. The seed fibers are called Akon z. B. used as life jacket fillings and are suitable for textile applications.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Calotropis gigantea at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  2. ↑ a b c S. Parhira, GY Zhu, RW Jiang, L. Liu, LP Bai, ZH Jiang: 2'-Epi-uscharin from the latex of Calotropis gigantea with HIF-1 inhibitory activity. In: Scientific reports. Volume 4, 2014, p. 4748, doi : 10.1038 / srep04748 , PMID 24756103 .
  3. ↑ a b c R. Rajesh, CD Raghavendra Gowda, A. Nataraju, BL Dhananjaya, K. Kemparaju, BS Vishwanath: Procoagulant activity of Calotropis gigantea latex associated with fibrin (ogen) olytic activity. In: Toxicon: official journal of the International Society on Toxinology. Volume 46, Number 1, July 2005, pp. 84-92, doi : 10.1016 / j.toxicon.2005.03.012 , PMID 15922393 .
  4. ↑ a b c K. Pari, PJ Rao, C. Devakumar, JN Rastogi: A Novel Insect Antifeedant Nonprotein Amino Acid from Calotropis gigantea In: Journal of natural products. Volume 61, Number 1, January 1998, pp. 102-104, doi : 10.1021 / np970255z , PMID 9548837 .
  5. ↑ NR Rathod, HR Chitme, R. Irchhaiya, R. Chandra: Hypoglycemic Effect of Calotropis gigantea Linn. Leaves and Flowers in Streptozotocin-Induced Diabetic Rats. In: Oman medical journal. Volume 26, number 2, March 2011, pp. 104-108, doi : 10.5001 / omj.2011.26 , PMID 22043394 , PMC 3191672 (free full text).
  6. ↑ a b T. Lhinhatrakool, S. Sutthivaiyakit: 19-Nor- and 18,20-epoxy-cardenolides from the leaves of Calotropis gigantea. In: Journal of natural products. Volume 69, Number 8, August 2006, pp. 1249-1251, doi : 10.1021 / np060249f , PMID 16933890 .
  7. ↑ ZN Wang, MY Wang, WL Mei, Z. Han, HF Dai: A new cytotoxic pregnanone from Calotropis gigantea. In: Molecules . Volume 13, number 12, 2008, pp. 3033-3039, doi : 10.3390 / molecules13123033 , PMID 19052526 .
  8. ↑ S. Thakur, P. Das, T. Itoh, K. Imai, T. Matsumoto: Latex extractables of Calotropis gigantea . In: Phytochemistry Vol. 23, 1984, pp. 2085-2087.
  9. ↑ Entry on Akon. In: Römpp Online . Georg Thieme Verlag, accessed on August 29, 2013.

Web links

Commons : Crown Flower ( Calotropis gigantea )  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files