Scientific name: Calotropis
procera
Family: Asclepiadaceae
Common English names: rubber bush, apple of Sodom, king's crown,
rooster tree, and giant milkweed
Common Arabic names: Ashir, Ishir
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Scientific name: Calotropis
procera |
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Poison!! Watch out, if you cut this plant, it exudes copious milky sap, which causes irritation and temporary blindness if eye contact occurs. Although viewed by locals as a poisonous useless plant, it has many benefits. The root bark is used to treat leprosy, fever, malaria and snake bite. It is recommended as a host plant for butterflies. In Africa, it is used as chew sticks when dry. When the fruit is ripe, it opens to release numerous seeds with tufts of long silky hairs at one end. The silky hairs of these seeds were used in the past to stuff pillows. Giant milkweed favors open habitat with little competition, which is the case in overgrazed pastures and rangelands! The species is distributed form India to Iran and Africa. In Jordan you can find it in the Jordan rift valley, near the historical Sodom, the source of its name, used to exist (See All of the Plants of the Bible). | |