Plumeria obtusa

Fragrant frangipani ( Plumeria obtusa )

The Fragrant Frangipani ( Plumeria obtusa ) is a plant of the genus Frangipani ( Plumeria ) in the family of the dogbane family ( Apocynaceae ).

Description

The Fragrant Frangipani is a 4 to 15 m tall tree with strong branches. The trunk diameter can reach 25 cm. Leaves and inflorescences are hairless. The leaves are leathery, obovate to ovate - elongate. They reach a length of 5 to 25 cm and a width of 2 to 9 cm. The tip is rounded or emarginate to short acuminate, base cuneate - acuminate. The top is glabrous and shiny, the underside is colored glabrous or hairy and yellow- green.

The inflorescences are dense and almost umbel- shaped, they consist of few to numerous flowers. The flower stems are 7-10 cm long. The calyx lobes are ovate - triangular, 1 to 1.5 mm long and cut to a rounded tip. The crown is colored white with a yellow center. The corolla tube is 1-2 cm long, the Corolla lobe are 1.5 to 4.5 cm long, ovate - oblong or obovate, the tip is blunt or rounded.

The follicles are 7-24 cm long and 1-2 cm thick.

Occurrence

The species occurs in Mexico, British Honduras, Guatemala, prior to the Greater Antilles and the Bahamas. It grows on dry and wet limestone soils, low in altitude forests.

Swell

• Henri Alain Liogier: Descriptive Flora of Puerto Rico and adjancent Islands, Spermatophyta, Volume IV: Melastomataceae to Lentibulariaceae. Universidad de Puerto Rico, 1995, ISBN 0-8477-2337-2, p 217