Plumeria.] LIV. APOCYNEiE. 323 



5. PLUMERIA, Tourn. 



Shrabs or trees, with alternate leaves, crowded at the ends of branches. 

 Flowers large, in terminal corymbose cymes. Calyx small, without glands. 

 Corolla-tube cylindrical, without scales, lobes spreading, contorted in bud. 

 Anthers inserted at the base of the corolla- tube, round the ovary. Ovary 

 of 2 distinct carpels, united by a single style, ovules numerous ; style 

 short, thick, with a 2-lobed stigma. Fruit of 2 follicles with numerous 

 compressed, winged, hairless, albuminous seeds. Cotyledons flat, folia- 

 ceous. 



1. P. acutifolia, Poiret. Syn. P. acuminata, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 20; 

 Wight Ic. t. 471. Vern. Gula chin, Hind. ; Khair champa, Bomb. 



A small tree, wholly glabrous, with thick branches, and rough bark, 

 full of tenacious, white juice. Leaves lanceolate or oblanceolate, 6-15 in. 

 long, narrowed into a petiole 1-2 in. long ; main lateral nerves numerous, 

 transverse, parallel, joined by prominent intramarginal veins. Flowers in 

 large compound, pedunculate cymes, white, fragrant, pale yellow in the 

 centre. Follicles divaricate, rigid, drooping, 6 in. long. 



Cultivated throughout India and Burma, near villages, temples, and in gar- 

 dens, but not indigenous. Cultivated in Siam, China, Cochin China, and the 

 Indian Archipelago (Rumph. Amb. iv. t. 38). Its home is not known. It grows 

 in New Grenada and other parts of tropical America, but whether indigenous, 

 is uncertain. (The other Plumerias inhabit tropical America, and P. loranthi- 

 folia, Mull. ; Mart. Flora Brasiliensis, vi. p. 42, a closely allied species, is found in 

 Para and Matto-Grosso.) Fl. H. and R. S. Ripens its fruit very rarely. At- 

 tempts have been made to make caoutchouc of the milk, but without success. 



6. WRIGHTIA, R. Brown. 



Trees or shrubs, with opposite leaves. Flowers in terminal corymbose 

 cymes. Calyx with 5-10 broad scales inside at the base. Corolla-tube 

 cylindrical, generally short ; lobes spreading, before expansion twisted 

 towards the right, the throat with a corona of 5 or 10 erect scales, either 

 distinct or united in a ring. Stamens inserted in the throat, filaments 

 short and broad, continued into a broad, tapering connective ; anthers 

 exserted, sagittate, connivent in a cone round the stigma, and often 

 adhering laterally. Ovary of 2 carpels, distinct or connate, with numer- 

 ous ovules in each, multiseriate, on axile placentas. Fruit long-cylindri- 

 cal, separating into two follicles dehiscing on the inner face, filled with 

 numerous oblong pendulous seeds, each with a tuft of long silky hairs 

 at the lower end. Albumen none, embryo cylindrical, cotyledons con- 

 volute, longer than superior radicle. 



Follicles connate into a long cylindrical capsule, separating and 



dehiscing at the same time ; leaves soft tomentose . . 1. W. tomentosa. 

 Follicles distinct, cohering at the apex only ; leaves rough . . 2. W. tinctoria. 



1 . W. tomentosa, Roem. et Schultes ; Wight Ic. t. 443. Syn. W. 

 mollissima, Wall. PI. As. rar. t. 146; Wight 111. t. 154. Nerium tomen- 

 tosum, Roxb. Fl. Ind. ii. 6. Yern. Keor, kilawa, Pb. Dirndl, KW.P., 



