Calotropis gigantea

Description:

Crown flowerApocynaceae (Dogbane family)Native to Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India and ChinaIntroduced tot the Hawaiian IslandsOahu, Hawaii, USAThis is a white flowered form. Crown flowers are used in lei and apparently popular with Queen Liliuokalani (1838-1917), the last of Hawaii's ruling monarchs.There appears to be a love or hate affiliation with Crown flowers and Monarch butterflies, with some opinions straddling the fence. People who grow crown flowers for lei or merely as a landscape plant, understandably, do not want the caterpillars eating their plants. Those that love the Monarchs do not want to see them destroyed. But like it or not, Crown flower is a favored food for Monarch butterfly caterpillars in Hawaii. Untreated plants usually receive extensive damage to foliage. nativeplants.hawaii.edu/