Ark

The classical Ayurveda plant Ark is co-related to the genus Calotropis botanically.Bhavprakash in his work on medicinal plants has described two varieties of Arka, one bearing White flowers and one bearing Red flowers. Red flowered plant is termed as Ark while the other variety is called Alark or Raaj Ark as it is big in size as compared to the Red variety.

• A scan of Ayurveda literature put forth many different varieties of Arka. Dhanwantari nighantu mentions two varieties, Arka and Raajarka. Raajanighantu mentions four varieties; Arka , Raajarka ,Shuklarka and Shwetmandaraka.


• Arundatt has described Mandarka variety described by RaajNighantu as bearing white flowers. The description warrants accepting Raajarka and ShwetMandarka described by Raajnighantu to be varieties of same species.