Calotropis procera
Vernacular names
(In territories with significant traditional TRAMIL use)
Curaçao:
- katuna di seda
Botanical description
Shrub, 2 to 5 m high, evergreen. Straight, sometimes tortuous, whitish stems; Corky bark with deep fissures in old branches. Glaucous leaves, sessile, oblong-obovate to almost orbicular, 10 to 30 cm, usually cuspidate, armored at the base, with velvety white tomentum when young, glabrous with age. Branched inflorescences, in extra-axillary umbelliform clusters, pedunculate, with many flowers, petals white with purple tips. Fruits of 3 to 10 cm, swollen follicles, large, obliquely ovoid.
Distribution: Pantropical.