FoI
Rubber Bush
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Rubber Bush
ative Photo: Thingnam Girija
Common name: Rubber Bush, apple of sodom, french cotton, sodom apple • Gujarati: નાનો આંકડો Nano ankado • Hindi: आक Aak, मुदर Mudar • Kannada: bili aekka, bili aekkada gida • Malayalam: erikku, erukku • Manipuri: ꯑꯡꯀꯣꯠ Angkot • Marathi: mandara, rui • Nepali: सेतो आँक Seto Aank, बाह्रमासे आँक Bahramaase Aank, आँक Aank • Sanskrit: आदित्यपुष्पिका adityapushpika, alarka, क्षीरपर्ण ksiraparna, मन्दरा mandara • Tamil: vellai erukkan, vellai erukku • Telugu: erra jilledu, jilledu, mandaaramu
Botanical name: Calotropis procera    Family: Apocynaceae (Oleander family)
Synonyms: Asclepias procera, Calotropis wallichii, Madorius procerus

Rubber bush is a spreading shrub or a small tree to 4 m, oozing copious milky sap when cut or broken. Leaves are opposite, grey-green, broadly elliptic but varying between ovate and obovate, large up to 15 cm long and 10 cm broad, with a pointed tip, two rounded basal lobes and no leaf stalk. Flowers are waxy white, petals 5, purple-tipped inside and with a central purplish crown, carried in stalked clusters at the ends of the branches. Fruit is grey-green, inflated, 8-12 cm long, containing numerous seeds with tufts of long silky hairs at one end.
Medicinal uses: The bark and leaves are used for the treatment of leprosy and asthma, respectively.

Identification credit: Tabish Photographed in Delhi & Gujarat.

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