Crown flower (Calotropis gigantea)

A very well-known tree that grows unkempt on the roadsides or wastelands of rural Bengal is the Akanda. Due to its beautiful structure, this flower is called 'Crown flower' in English. In our neighboring country, India, it is widely known as Ak or Madar in Hindi and Ark in Sanskrit. Among the followers of traditional religions, especially according to the Shiva Purana, this Akanda flower is also offered along with the highly poisonous Dhutura flower in worship of Lord Shiva and for peace and prosperity in the society. This flower is widely used for long-lasting floral arrangements in countries like Thailand and for making royal garlands in the Hawaiian Islands.

​Scientific name:
In the language of botany, the scientific name of this well-known plant is Calotropis gigantea. Several synonyms have been used in scientific research at different times, of which Asclepias gigantea and Madorius giganteus are among them.

​Family and Genus:
According to the classification, the calotropis tree is a member of the Plantae kingdom of the plant kingdom. It belongs to the Apocynaceae family under the Gentianales order. The genus name of this plant is Calotropis.

​Size and Physical Structure:
The calotropis is basically a fairly large and bushy shrub-like plant. These plants can grow up to about 4 meters or 13 feet tall. Its stem is quite strong, round, and when the stem and leaves are broken, a thick white latex or latex like milk comes out from inside. Its leaves are oval, light green in color and are 100 to 200 millimeters in length. Its wax-like flowers bloom in clusters. The flowers are mainly white or light purple in color, with five petals and an attractive part like a crown in the middle.

​Native and Habitat:
This tree is mainly native to various countries in the Asian continent. In addition to our beloved homeland Bangladesh, it is also found naturally in many other countries including India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, China, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. They usually grow very easily in dry and wasteland areas.

​Food:
As green plants, they use soil and sunlight to make their own food through the process of photosynthesis. However, in nature's vast ecosystem, it serves as the main food source or host plant for many insects and butterflies. For example, the monarch butterflies of the Hawaiian Islands rely heavily on the leaves of this tree for food.

​Reproduction:
This tree is mainly pollinated by insects or bees, which is called entomophily. When bees sit to collect nectar from flowers, the pollen or pollinia gets stuck firmly on their feet through the sticky disc and when they sit on another flower, pollination is completed. Its fruits are in pairs. After the fruits ripen and dry, the cottony hairy seeds inside are spread by the wind.

​Benefits:
This plant has been widely used in Ayurveda and herbal medicine since ancient times. Its leaves, roots and bark are effective as folk medicine for treating asthma, bacterial infections, skin problems, digestive disorders and liver diseases. Its milk, like kash, is also used as an antidote for rheumatism and snake bites. Recent studies have shown that the extract of Akand has a strong effect on destroying lung, colon and liver cancer cells. In addition, Akand leaves are very effective in controlling Culex mosquitoes and destroying mosquito larvae, which spread Japanese encephalitis. The durable fibers obtained from this tree are used to make ropes and fishing nets.

Harmfulness:
Despite its medicinal properties, it is a very poisonous tree. Its bark contains highly toxic substances such as uscharin and calotoxin. If this white bark comes into contact with the eyes, it can cause 'toxic keratoconjunctivitis', which damages the cornea of ​​the eye and temporarily reduces vision. There is also a mythological story in the Mahabharata about blindness after eating the leaves of this tree. In addition, if someone eats it by mistake, severe burning in the throat and stomach, vomiting, diarrhea and convulsions begin, which can lead to death within 6-12 hours. In agriculture, the extract of this tree also has harmful allelopathic effects, which can hinder the germination of seeds and growth of seedlings of other agricultural crops.

I hope you like the information.

I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.

_{​(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)}
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Camera Used	Samsung SM-G973F
F-Stop	F2.4
ISO speed	ISO
Focal length	26mm
Flash	No
Editing app	Lightroom
Photography	(Calotropis gigantea)
Photographer	@mshbd
Location	Natore, Bangladesh