DANA ANNE YEE FOUNDATION
Crown Flower Society
MISSION:
The Crown Flower Society was established on June 30, 2023 to create awareness, to educate, to preserve, to recognize, to promote new cultivars, and to honor and promote the cultural significance of the Crown Flower, Calotropis gigantea, for all the people of Hawai`i and the world.
BACKGROUND OF THE SOCIETY:
Known in Hawai`i by it’s English name, Crown Flower, or by it’s Hawaiian name Pua Kalaunu and elsewhere as the common name Giant Calotrope or in Hindi as Madar. The Crown Flower’s historical distribution includes; Cambodia, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, China, Pakistan, and Nepal. The Crown Flower, Pua Kalaunu, was a favorite of Hawai`i’s beloved Queen Lili`uokalani and the Hindu God Shiva.
Crown Flowers are host plants for caterpillars of the threatened Monarch Butterflies. A new cultivar was discovered in Honolulu, Hawai`i in 2021 that has potential to provide an additional host plant for our threatened Monarch Butterflies in Hawai`i. This new Variegated Crown Flower cultivar was first found and identified by William D. Perreira and Dana Anne Yee. William has named the cultivar variety, Variegated Crown Flower “Lady Dana Anne Yee”. This very rare plant arose in the Makiki area on the island of O`ahu, Hawai`i. This plant came from a “sport” that first appeared in 2021 on a plant that is over 40 years old. This mutation is unique;
its unusual variegated leaves in yellow, white, and green are normally green.
In addition to being host plants for our threatened Monarch Butterflies, Hawai`i’s centuries old tradition of lei-making continues with Crown Flowers of lavender, purple, and white.
AFFILIATION:
The Crown Flower Society is a direct affiliate of the Dana Anne Yee Foundation and, therefore, qualifies as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation under the Federal Revenue Code.