133
Plumeria
obtusa L.
Synonym : Plumeria obtusa
var. laevis Griseb.
Family
: Apocynaceae
Local Names
: Vellachempakam, White
champa, White Frangipani
Flowering
and fruiting period:
December – June
Distribution: Central America,
from Mexico to Panama
Habitat: Grown as ornamental
tree
IUCN
status:
Data Deficient
Endemic: No
Uses: Ornamental. In the Caribbean Islands, people use the
bark as a diuretic. They also use the latex to stimulate purging. In many
islands in the Pacific, women can discreetly declare their marital status by
placing a Plumeria flower on the right ear if they are single or on the left if
they are married. In Hawaii, the flowers are very popular and often placed in
floral leis.
Key
Characters:
Plumeria obtuse are deciduous trees, with prominent leafscars. Leaves simple,
alternate spiral, clustered; lamina oblong, oblanceolate; apex obtuse or acute,
margin entire. Flowers bisexual, white, in terminal corymbose stout cymes; calyx
cupular; lobes 5; corolla; lobes 5, obovate, overlapping to the left, obtuse;
stamens 5, attached at the base of the tube, included; ovary half inferior,
globose, ovules many; stigma 2-lobed. Fruit an aggregate of 2 follicle; seeds
winged.
