Plumeria

? Plumeria
Plumeria alba (White Frangipani)
Plant Info
Growth habit: Shrub, Small Tree Height: ⇕ 18ft Lifespan: ⌛ Perennial Exposure: ☼ Full Sun, High Shade Water: ☂ moderate Features: ❀ Flowers, Fragrance Hardiness: ❆ Frost tender USDA Zones: vary Sunset Zones: vary by species
Scientific classification

Plumeria (common name Frangipani; syn. Himatanthus Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.) is a small genus of 7-8 handsome and useful species native to tropical and subtropical Americas. Open plants have leathery, pointed leaves at the ends of the branches. Flowers during warm seasons, and give clusters of large, showy, waxy flowers with a strong perfume. Plumeria is related to the Oleander, Nerium oleander, and both possess poisonous, milky sap, rather similar to that of Euphorbia.

Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.

Species

7-8 species including:

• Plumeria alba - White Frangipani - Sunset zones 23, 24. leaves are narrow, lance shaped and corrugated/puckered, to 1 ft. long. Flowers 2.5 inches wide, yellow with white center.
• Plumeria inodora
• Plumeria obovata
• Plumeria obtusa - Sunset zones 24, 25. Retains dark green, glossy leaves and 2 inch flowers in winter. From Columbia, but common name is "Singapore".
• Plumeria pudica - leaves have an elongated oak shape and glossy, dark green color. Everblooming type with non-deciduous, evergreen leaves.
• Plumeria rubra - Known as Plumeria or Frangipani. Sunset zones 12, 13, 19, 21-25, 27. Thick leaves are 8-16" long. Red flowers appear in clusters, and are 2 - 2.5" wide. White, pink, yellow blossoms exist. (Also known as Plumeria acuminata and Plumeria acutifolia)
• Plumeria stenopetala
• Plumeria stenophylla

Cultivation

Feeding late in year will cause soft growth, which is venerable to the lightest frosts.

Propagation

Plumeria species are easily propagated by taking a cutting of the end of a branch (about 8-12 inches long) in spring and allowing it to dry at the base before inserting into well draining soil. They are also propagated via tissue culture both from cuttings of freshly elongated stems and via aseptically germinated seed.

Pests and diseases

Mealybugs are a problem.

Uses

Used to create the famous Hawaiian Leis.

Taxonomy

? Scientific classification
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Species
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Plumeria rubra

The genus, originally spelled Plumiera, is named in honor of the seventeenth-century French botanist Charles Plumier, who traveled to the New World documenting many plant and animal species. The common name "Frangipani" comes from an Italian noble family, a sixteenth-century marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume.

In Mexico, the Nahuatl (Aztec language) name for this plant is "cacalloxochitl" which means "crow flower." It was used for many medicinal purposes such as salves and ointments.

Depending on location, many other common names exist: "Kembang Kamboja" in Indonesia, "Temple Tree" or "Champa" in India, "Kalachuchi" in the Philippines, "Araliya" or "Pansal Mal" in Sri Lanka, "Champa" in Laos, "Lantom" or "Lilarwadee" in Thai and "Dead man's fingers". Many English speakers also simply use the generic name "plumeria".

Distribution and habitat

The genus consists of mainly deciduous shrubs and trees. P. rubra (Common Frangipani, Red Frangipani), native to Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela, produces flowers ranging from yellow to pink depending on form or cultivar. From Mexico and Central America, Plumeria has spread to all tropical areas of the world, especially Hawaii, where it grows so abundantly that many people think that it is indigenous there.

References

• Flora: The Gardener's Bible, by Sean Hogan. Global Book Publishing, 2003. ISBN 0881926248
• American Horticultural Society: A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants, by Christopher Brickell, Judith D. Zuk. 1996. ISBN 0789419432
• Sunset National Garden Book. Sunset Books, Inc., 1997. ISBN 0376038608

Gallery

• 

  Fruit & flower in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

• 

  Flower in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

• 

  Bark in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

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  Leaves in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

External links

• Frangipani, Plumeria, Lonely Hearts Posts and New Books to Read! - Informative but non-scholarly essay on Plumeria.
• Template:Pt icon Flora Brasiliensis: Plumeria
• Template:Fr icon Dok Champa Muang Lao: Plumeria Flowers, fleurs des frangipaniers, fleurs du Laos. Présentation de toutes les méthodes de multiplications : par bouture, semis, greffe ou encore marcottage.
• Template:Nl icon plumeria's in nederland kweken
• Bali Plumeria [1]