Crateva magna – Varuna, Large Garlic Pear

Larval Host Plant

Appias libythea – Western Striped Albatross
Appias lyncida – Chocolate Albatross
Hebomoia glaucippe – Great Orange-tip
Leptosia nina – Psyche

ee843 , ee842 dp840 dq134 , dq133 dr981 bq288 , bq287 , bq286 , bq285 bj646 aw389

Other notes

Synonym: Crateva nurvala Buch.-Ham. (WFO, 2022).

 

Natural History: A medium-sized, deciduous tree found in subtropical Asia. Historically known as Varuna and its dried stem bark is used as Ayurvedic medicine (API, 1986). Leaves are trifoliate and falls off during summer. Flowers are creamy white with violet filaments, borne in clusters at branch ends during January to April. Fruits are round woody berries with creamy pulp and numerous dark seeds (Flowers of India, 2022).

 

References:

Nitin, R., V. C. Balakrishnan, P. V. Churi, S. Kalesh, S. Prakash, and K. Kunte. 2018. Larval host plants of the butterflies of the Western Ghats, India. Journal of Threatened Taxa, 10:11495–11550. DOI: https://doi.org/10.11609/jott.3104.10.4.11495-11550.

WFO (2022): World Flora Online. Accessed on 31 Dec 2022. URL: http://www.worldfloraonline.org/taxon/wfo-0000625711.

Flowers of India (2022). Accessed on 31 Dec 2022. URL: https://www.flowersofindia.net/catalog/slides/Large%20Garlic%20Pear.html.

API 1986: The Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India, Part I, Volume I. [pdf] ayurveda.hu.

Page citation

Kawthankar, N. 2024. Crateva magna DC. – Varuna, Large Garlic Pear. In Kunte, K., S. Sondhi, and P. Roy (Chief Editors). Butterflies of India, v. 4.12. Published by the Indian Foundation for Butterflies. URL: https://www.ifoundbutterflies.org/crateva-magna, accessed 2024/04/19.