Plumeria

Where it grows

Plumeria, also called frangipani, is native to seasonally dry tropical forests of Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America. Spanish missionaries and traders carried it across the Pacific, and it became so widely planted at Buddhist and Hindu temples in Southeast Asia that many assume it is Asian.

How to recognise it

A small deciduous tree three to eight metres tall with thick, blunt, milky-sapped branches and long oval leaves clustered at the branch tips. The waxy, five-petaled flowers have overlapping petals giving them a pinwheel form, with a yellow throat that fades outwards to white, pink, or red. The night-time scent is heavy and gardenia-like.

Garden & cultural uses

Hawaiian florists thread plumeria blossoms onto leis worn at airports, weddings, and graduations. In Bali the flowers are tucked behind the ear and offered at every temple shrine. Italian perfumer Muzio Frangipani gave the flower its other name in the sixteenth century when he created a glove perfume with a similar aroma.

In folklore

Some Pacific cultures associate plumeria with the spirits of the dead because the flowers retain their fragrance even after they fall.