Plumeria rubra L.

ഈഴച്ചെമ്പകം

Family : Apocynaceae

Synonym : Plumeria jamesonii Hook

Common Names : Ezhachempakam, Pagoda tree, Temple tree

Flowering Period : November – April

Distribution : Native of Tropical America

Habitat : Cultivated as ornamental plants

Uses : Ornamental. It has anti-fertility, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, hepatoprotective and antimicrobial activities. It has been used in the folk medicine systems of civilizations for the treatment however as abortifacient, drastic, purgative, blennorrhagia, used in toothache and for carious teeth.

Key Characters :

Plumeria rubra are deciduous trees. Leaves simple, alternate spiral, clustered; latex milky; lamina obovate-spathulate, apex acuminate or acute, margin entire. Flowers bisexual, in terminal corymbose stout cymes; calyx cupular; lobes 5; corolla, pink or cream with yellow centre; lobes 5, obovate; stamens 5, attached at the base of the tube, included; ovary globose; ovules many; stigma 2-lobed. Fruit an aggregate of 2 follicle; seeds winged.