Plumeria obtusa L.

വെള്ളച്ചെമ്പകം

Family : Apocynaceae

Synonym : Plumeria obtusa var. laevis Griseb.

Common Names : Vellachempakam, White champa, White frangipani

Flowering Period : December – June

Distribution : Central America, from Mexico to Panama

Habitat : Grown as ornamental tree

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 obtusa 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.