What is the adaptation of calotropis?

Calotropis procera has an exceptional ability to adapt and maintain productivity in severe arid conditions (Ramadan et al., 2014). It is a C3 plant that can survive drought, salinity, extreme temperatures, high vapor pressure deficit, and high photosynthetic active radiations (Frosi et al., 2013; Rivas et al., 2020).

What is the classification of calotropis?

Calotropis
Milkweeds/Scientific names

What is calotropis used for?

People use the bark and root bark for medicine. Despite serious safety concerns, calotropis is used for digestive disorders including diarrhea, constipation and stomach ulcers; for painful conditions including toothache, cramps, and joint pain; and for parasitic infections including elephantiasis and worms.

Which is the main characteristics of calotropis flower?

Calotropis (Calotropis procera (Aiton) W. T. Aiton) is a spreading shrub or medium-sized tree reaching 2.5 to 6 m in height. It has a deep taproot, 3-4 m deep, and a secondary root system with woody lateral roots that may rapidly regenerate adventitious shoots when the plant is injured.

What is the meaning of calotropis?

Definition of Calotropis : a genus of Asian or African shrubs or trees (family Asclepiadaceae) having bell-shaped flowers with showy keel-shaped hoods and used as fiber plants — see mudar.

How calotropis is adapted to defend against grazers and browsers?

A wide variety of chemical substance that we extract from plants on a commercial scale (nicotine, caffeine, quinine, strychnine, opium, etc.) are produced by them actually as defences against grazers and browsers.

What is the scientific name of calotropis?

Why is calotropis called milkweed?

The flowers are about 1.5 to 2 in (3.8 to 5.1 cm) in size, with umbellate lateral cymes and are colored white to pink and are fragrant in case of C. procera while the flowers of C. gigantea are without any fragrance and are white to purple colored, but in rarer cases are also light green-yellow or white.

Is calotropis poisonous for humans?

All parts of the plants are toxic; there are many case reports of gastrointestinal, cutaneous and ocular toxicity with Calotropis. The plant contains Cardenolide glycosides which have Digoxin like effects and can cause severe cardiotoxicity.

Which inflorescence is present in calotropis?

Inflorescence : Polychasial cymes. Flowers : Large, purplish, sometime white, not scented, bracteates, bracteolate, pedicellate, complete, actinomorphic, hermaphrodite, pentamerous, hypogynous and cyclic.

Why do cattle avoid browsing the calotropis plants?

Cattle avoid browsing on Calotropis plants because it produces poisonous cardiac glycosides.

Which substance in calotropis gives itself protection against predators?

cardiac glycosides
For plant, herbivores are the predators. Plants have evolved an astonishing variety of morphological and chemical defences against herbivores. Calotropis produces highly poisonous cardiac glycosides and that is why we never see any cattle or goat browsing on this plant.