Calotropis
General description:
Calotropis R.Br. Flora of Saudi Arabia, Jizan.
Small trees or large shrubs. Leaves subsessile or sessile, opposite. Flowers in pedunculate, umbelliform cymes, usually seen arising from the side fo the stem. Calyx 5-partite with ovate lobes. Corolla 5-lobed, rotate-campanulate or with reflexed lobes. Corona with 5 compressed lobes. Anthers short and broad with membranous appendages inflexed over the rim of the pentagonal apex of the depressed style. Pollen masses solitary in each anther cell, pendulous. Follicles large with a thick spongyfibrous mesocarp. Seeds ovate, crowned with a tuft of hairs.
Distribution:
A small genus with 6 species mainly distributed in Tropical Africa and Asia. 1 species in Saudi Arabia.