Plumeria - A Symbol Of Immortality

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Shrubs and small trees, deciduous and evergreen, with different leaf shapes and surprisingly virtuoso flowers that exude aroma at night, are all plants of the Plumeria genus

Charles Plumier

Charles Plumier, a French explorer of the second half of the 17th century, made an invaluable contribution to the study of the plant world, leaving behind 31 volumes of manuscripts and 4000 drawings of plants that he met on his travels in France and the Antilles.

His work was admired by botanists of subsequent generations, including Linnaeus, and his name is immortalized in the name of the genus Plumeria, first described by Charles Plumier.

Different names

Plants of the Plumeria genus, born in Central America, very quickly won the hearts of gardeners in the world, and therefore they can be found today on any continent except cold Antarctica. In every country, plants are given local names, so one can easily be fooled into recognizing Plumeria, but hearing a completely different name from the aborigines.

Plumeria is called: Frangipani; Jasmine; Yasmin; Champa (in India); Melia (in Hawaii); Tiare tree (in French Polynesia) …

In countries with cold winters, Plumeria is grown in greenhouses and as indoor plants.

Description

The leaves of plants of the genus Plumeria can be narrow and with a corrugated surface, like in Plumeria alba, or rather wide and elongated in length, with a dark green glossy surface, like in Plumeria pudica. The shape of the leaves does not change the nature of the sap contained in them, contact with which can provoke eye and skin irritation.

Plants can be evergreen or shed their foliage during dry periods. The following photos show how, for 1, 5 months, the tree wakes up from hibernation, showing the world new leaves, a peduncle with buds, and then flowers:

White, cream, white with a bright yellow center, pink, red flowers can exude the scent used by the Italian for the production of perfumes. The aroma appears, as a rule, at night, when the personal pollinator of flowers - the butterfly "Sphinx of the moth", wakes up. And there are species whose flowers are fragrant only at close range. But, in any case, the scent is a deceitful bait, since there is no nectar in the flowers. So, the ability to deceive is not unique to people.

Reproduction

Plumeria can be propagated by sowing seeds, but then the flowering time is delayed by several years.

Therefore, it is more often and easier to propagate the plant by cuttings. They are harvested in the spring from the leafless tops of the stem. Cuttings tolerate storage quite firmly if their tips are dried.

Cuttings are planted in well-drained soil, since excess moisture provokes rotting of the cuttings.

Growing

For Plumeria, it is very important to correctly determine the ratio of the received sunlight and the amount of irrigation water. The more sun a plant gets, the more moisture it needs for normal growth and abundant flowering. Conversely, the less sun falls on the Plumeria, the less often it should be watered. The moisture content of the soil should always be slightly above the dry state.

The looseness of the soil for a plant is much more important than its composition. In Hurghada (Egypt), United Arab Emirates, Plumeria grows well on sandy soil.

In the following photo, Plumeria growing in El Mamzar Park (Dubai):

Symbols

The territory of Buddhist temples is decorated with Plumeria, considering the tree a symbol of immortality. Indeed, when you observe how lifeless stems, similar to deer antlers, suddenly begin to release flower stalks, then immortality turns into a real event.

In Indonesia and the Philippines, trees are planted in cemeteries, associating them with cemetery ghosts, which, however, also speaks of the immortality of souls. After all, ghosts are souls that have not yet calmed down.

In southern India, the bride and groom exchange garlands of cream Plumeria flowers in a wedding ceremony. After all, a loving union of two people is also a guarantee of immortality.