Scientific Name: Plumeria alba
Common name: White Frangipani
Family Name: APOCYNACEAE
Growth Habit: Small tree to 25' with an open crown formed by a few stout, brittle branches, each ending in spreading clusters of leaves; trunk 4-5" in diameter.
Identification: Bark is brownish-gray, smoothish, exuding large quantities of latex when cut.
Leaves: Deciduous, alternate, simple; narrow, lance-shaped, 6-15" long and 5/8- 2" broad, thick, leathery, with edges reflexed; shiny, dark green above, white, sometimes fuzzy beneath.
Flowers: Showy, white, fragrant, tubular and spreading; 11/2-2" long and broad; borne in flattened clusters on flower stalks to 8" in length. Flowering throughout the year.
Fruit: Paired brown pods, cigar-shaped and pointed at each end, 4-6" long and 1/2" in diameter; each containing many flat, winged seeds.
Growth Rate: Slow – Moderate
Salt Tolerance: High
Drought Tolerance: High
Propagation Methods: Seeds, large cuttings
Landscape Uses/Limitations: This is an excellent small tree for gardens with limited space. Its salt and drought tolerance, as well as its fragrant flowers, warrants more extensive landscape use. The white sap is irritating and the leaves may be attacked by large caterpillars.
Economic/Medicinal Uses: The wood is hard, heavy, and tough. Has been used as fuel wood and in carpentry where it reaches sufficient size. The blossoms are favored in floral arrangements. The sap has been used on fresh wounds, and a tea from the leaves has been employed as a purgative.
Conservational Needs: This species has largely been replaced in use by Plumeria rubra, which is less durable.White frangipani should be propagated for its use in coastal areas.
Natural Distribution on St. Croix: In coastal thickets and on rock bluffs; Creque Dam, Caledonia.