Plumeria Obtusa- the graveyard flower

 

Plumeria obtusa- the graveyard flower

Common Name: Frangipani or Champa IUCN Status: Least Concerned

The flowering plant Genus Plumeria is originally a native of Bahamas [a Caribbean country]. Now it has been naturalized worldwide.

Plant Characteristics:

It is a shrub with succulent branches.

Plumeria- a shrub with succulent branches

The leaves are clustered near the tips of the branches. The leaves are dark and leathery and tend to be shiny on the upper surface.

Leaves of Plumeria- under side

The flowers are born in clusters at the ends of branches on a long thick stalk.

Flowers in clusters at the end of branches

Plumeria flowers are funnel shaped with five petals.

They are most fragrant at night in order to lure nocturnal Sphinx moths to pollinate them.  
Plumeria is propagated by stem cutting.

History of its name:

Carl Linnaeus first described Plumeria in 1753. He named the genus Plumeria after Charles Plumer [Father of West Indian Flora] the botanist of King Louis XIV of France.

Charles Plumer

Species is “Obtusa” because of its blunt tipped leaves. [obtusa means blunt]

The common name for Plumeria- Frangipani seems to have its first origins in Italy. A family whose job was to refill the wafers, or holy bread in Church, bore a family name called Frangipani. Frangipani literally means “Broken bread” with ‘frangi’ meaning ‘to break’ and ‘pan’ meaning ‘bread’.

Plumeria 'obtusa'- blunt tipped leaves

Another version says that the name, frangipani, is from the French frangipanier which is a type of coagulated milk that Plumeria milk resembles.

 Some say, the word comes from the Italian nobleman, Marquis de Frangipani, who created a perfume to scent gloves in the 16th century. When the frangipani flower was discovered its natural perfume reminded people of the scented gloves, and so the flower was called frangipani.

However, there is an unusual mythical story that started in London related to Frangipani. In 1855, owners of Piesse and Lubin a luxury perfumery in 1855 wanted to propel a new perfume into the markets. They created a romantic fictional character known as Mercutio Frangipani and added a story to it.  

            Mercutio Frangipani was a botanist in one of the Columbus’ voyages (ca. 1493). Desperate to find land, he became a hero when he discovered the shoreline through his extraordinary sense of smell. As they landed in Bahamas, Mercutio was said to have discovered Plumeria alba the smell which originally attracted them to shore. When he returned to Europe, he was said to have passed his discovery on to his grandson, who used the discovery to make a perfume.

            Thus in 1880, Piesse formulated a synthetic scent, named Frangipanni under the disguise of the story of Mercutio Frangipani. 

 

Cultural significance:

• In India and Bangladesh, it is called Champa. It is the earthly form of Champaka, a flower that resides in the heavenly home of Lord Shree Krishna.  
  
  
  

• Plumeria is a symbol of immortality in Hinduism, Islam and also Buddhism. It’s because it will continue to produce flowers and leaves from a cut branch or long after being uprooted. 

• In India and much of South-east Asia, a Plumeria tree grows in virtually in every temple and graveyard. Therefore it is called a Graveyard Flower.
  

• In Polynesia, women use Plumeria to indicate their relationship status- they wear it over the right ear if seeking a relationship and over the left if they are engaged.

• To the Mayas of Mesoamercia, Plumeria species represent life and fertility and are strongly connected with female sexuality.
  
  
  

• In Sri Lanka, the tradition of using Plumeria in worship dates to the time of king Kashyapa. The Sigriya fortress built by him in 477-495AD contains a fresco painting of a heavenly damsel holding a 5-petalled flower of Plumeria in her right hand.

  

  a damsel holding Plumeria- fresco painting at Sigriya fort, Sri Lanka (477 AD)

• It is the national tree of Laos, called ‘Dok Jampa’.

•  Frangipani is the national flower of Nicaragua and it is featured on some of their bank notes.
  
  
  
  
  
  

•  However, people of China and Vietnam consider it unlucky because of a folk belief that ghosts and other spirits live in the branches of the bush. This is associated with a theory that Catholic missinary priests spread frangipanis around the world as they travelled.  

                    This may explain why the frangipani is not so popular in China and Vietnam. There, Catholic missionaries were persecuted until around the 1850s.

• Some Thai homes consider that frangipanis bring unhappiness. That is due to the plant's Thai name, lantom, as it is similar to ratom, the Thai word for sorrow.

•  Interestingly, in Malay folklore the scent of the frangipani is associated with a vampire, the pontianak.

 Uses:

• In India, Plumerias are extensively used in devotion and in making incenses.
• They are extensively used in funerals. Therefore often are planted on burial grounds. Thus it is called as the graveyard flower.
  
  
  
•  In several Pacific islands, Plumeria species are used for making leis.
  
  
  
•  In Cambodia, as per their traditional medicine, a decoction of the plant’s bark is given in varying doses as a purgative or as a remedy against oedema.
•  In Caribbean cultures, the leaves are used as poultices (a healing wrap) for bruises and ulcers and the latex is used as a liniment for rheumatism.

Other Important Species:

Plumeria pudica: Has elongated, glossy, dark-green color spoon shaped leaves. It is also called fiddle leafed Plumeria.

Plumeria pudica- spoon shaped leaves

Plumeria rubra-  it has red colored flowers. [Latin ruber means red]

Plumeria rubra- red colored flowers

Plumeria alba- also called White Plumeria. [Latin alba means white]

Plumeria alba