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 leafless stem tips in spring and allowing them to dry at the base before inserting them into 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.

History

Taxonomy

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Scientific classification

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Kingdom:	Plantae
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Division:	Magnoliophyta
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Class:	Magnoliopsida
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Order:	Gentianales
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Superfamily:	{{{superfamilia}}}
Family:	Apocynaceae
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Genus:	Plumeria Tourn. ex L.
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Synonyms

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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