Plumeria alba

Plumeria alba is a species of flowering plant in the genus Plumeria native to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. It has been planted in tropical regions worldwide.

Plumeria alba
Conservation status
Least Concern  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Asterids
Order:	Gentianales
Family:	Apocynaceae
Genus:	Plumeria
Species:	P. alba
Binomial name
Plumeria alba L.[2]
Synonyms[3]
Plumeria revolutifolia Stokes

Common names

• Caterpillar tree
• Cagoda tree
• Pigeon wood
• Nosegay tree
• White frangipani
• Kath golap (Bengali: কাঠ গোলাপ)
• Champa (Bengali: চাঁপা)
• Frangipanier à fleurs blanches (French)^[4]
• Lee La Wa Dee (Thai: ลีลาวดี)
• Châmpéi sâ (Khmer)^[4]
• Hoa chăm pa (Vietnamese)
• Kamboja (Indonesian)
• Kalatsútsing putî (Tagalog)^[5]
• Dok Champa (Lao: ດອກຈໍາປາ)
• Chafa (Marathi)
• Sudu araliya (Sinhala)
• Champo (Gujarati)
• الياسمين الهندي

Uses

P. alba is often cultivated as an ornamental plant. In Cambodia pagodas especially choose this shrub, with the flowers used in ritual offerings to the deities, they are sometimes used to make necklaces which decorate coffins.^[4] In addition, the flowers are edible and eaten as fritters, while the heart of the wood is part of a traditional medical preparation taken as a vermifuge or as a laxative.

Gallery

• 
  Flowers
• 
  Illustration
• 
  Foliage with Pseudosphinx caterpillars
• 
  Plumeria alba flower, Bangalore, India