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Plumeria alba

Plumeria alba

Carlos Linneo 1753
Alhelí Blanco

Family: Apocynaceae
Order: Gentianales
Class: Magnoliopsida
Phylum / Division: Magnoliophyta
Kingdom: Plantae

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Synonyms: Plumeria revolutifolia.





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Description


Plumeria alba is a species of flowering plant in the genus Plumeria native to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean. It is commonly known as West Indian jasmine, white frangipani plant, nosegay tree. It is a small deciduous tree and has been planted in tropical regions worldwide.

Common names: 
  • Caterpillar tree
  • Cagoda tree
  • Pigeon wood
  • Nosegay tree
  • White frangipani
  • Kath golap ()
  • Champa ()
  • Frangipanier à fleurs blanches (French)
  • Lee La Wa Dee ()
  • Châmpéi sâ (Khmer)
  • Hoa chăm pa (Vietnamese)
  • Kamboja (Indonesian)
  • Kalatsútsing putî (Tagalog)
  • Dok Champa ()
  • Chafa (Marathi)
  • Sudu araliya (Sinhala)
  • Champo (Gujarati)
  • الياسمين الهندي


 Plumeria alba is a small, rounded deciduous tree, growing up to 25 ft tall. Flowers are fragrant, with five petals that are white in color and with a yellow center. The flowers bloom in clusters at the ends of branches. Leaves are simple, green and oblong to lanceolate in shape, with entire margins and alternate in arrangement. Leaves are up to 12 in long and grow in a spiral arrangement near the tips of stems. Branches are gray to green in color, upright and grow closely at the trunk to form a vase shape with age. They release a milk sap when bruised or punctured.

Etymology: The genus name is a reference to Charles Plumier, a French monk who was a botanist and traveller. The Latin specific epithet "alba" means white.

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. 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.

Source: Wikipedia, article Plumeria alba. Content adapted from Wikipedia, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license. Accessed on 18/07/2026.





Geographic distribution


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Species photographs

Count: 1

Foto
Photography ID: 567178
  Adult

Pipa
Rio Grande do Norte
Brazil
02/26/2012
Luis Cesar Tejo


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 Detail of places sorted by number of records






Species records

Count: 2



Page 1 of 1
Record IDDateExact timeCountryProvince / departmentPlaceFilmedPhotographedRecorded vocalObservedHeardWounded or deadNumber of individualsUser or BibliographyDetail
217293107/02/2024Dominican RepublicLa AltagraciaBayahibe y parque nacional del este, Bayahíbe1Pablo Richter
195766626/02/2012BrazilRio Grande do NortePipaLuis Cesar Tejo
Page 1 of 1

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Recommended citation
Please use the following reference when citing this species account.
EcoRegistros. 2026. Plumeria alba – Species account. Accessed from www.ecoregistros.org on 15/09/2026.