2722 



PLUMBAGO 



PLUMERIA 



spicate or racemose on the ends of the branches, blue, 

 violet, red, or white, gamopetalous, salverform, the tube 

 usually slender* calyx tubular, 5-toothed, and some- 

 what angled, glandular; stamens usually 5, free from 

 the corolla-tube, the filaments mostly with a dilated 

 base; ovary attenuated at the top, the single style with 



5 stigmas: fr. a 

 membranaceous 

 5-valved caps. 

 About 10 or a 

 dozen species in- 

 habiting warm 

 ' countries, chiefly 

 of Eu., Asia, and 

 Afr. For P. Lar- 

 pentse, consult 

 Ceratostigma. 



Two species of 

 shrubby plumbagos, P. 

 capensis and P. rosea, are 

 deservedly well known. In 

 the middle and northern 

 states they are treated as 

 greenhouse pot-plants and 

 are usually turned out to 

 flower in summer. They are 

 readily prop, by cuttings 

 taken either in autumn 

 from plants growing in the 

 open or in the spring from 

 stock plants. They require 

 an intermediate tempera- 

 ture. 



A. Fls. red. 



rdsea, Linn. (P. sangui- 

 nea, Hort.?). St. zigzag, 

 more or less climbing, gla- 

 brous even in the infl. : Ivs. 

 large, ovate - elliptic, the 

 short petiole somewhat 

 clasping: fls. purplish red, in long racemes, the corolla- 

 lobes little if any exceeding the exserted part of the tube, 

 the calyx glandular-hairy; base of style hairy. S. Asia. 

 B.M. 230. Var. coccinea, Hook. (P. coccinea, Salisb.), 

 is a form with larger scarlet fls. B.M. 5363. Gng. 

 1:183. H.T. II. 6:292. This is the form chiefly cult. 

 Like P. capensis, this species is useful for summer 

 bedding. It is also an excellent subject for winter 

 blooming hi pots. 



AA. Fls. blue or white. 



B. Perennials, with more or less scandent sts. 

 capensis, Thunb. Fig. 3080. Semi-climbing shrub 

 but a straggling upright plant as grown under glass, 

 somewhat glaucous, glabrous except in the infl. : Ivs. scat- 

 tered, oblong-ovate to oblong-spatulate, nearly or cfuite 

 obtuse and short - mucronate, narrowed into a very 

 short petiole: racemes relatively short, the fls. some- 

 times appearing as if umbelled; fls. azure-blue, with a 

 very slender tube 1J^ in. long and several times longer 

 than the glandular-hairy cylindrical calyx-tube, the 

 corolla-lobes obovate and phlox-like: caps, oblong- 

 clavate, tapering and angled below. S. Afr. B.M. 2110. 

 B.R. 417. Gn. 44, p. 380; 46, p. 245; 48, p. 344; 58, p. 

 20. 0.18:519; 27:41. Gn.W.24:121. G.W. 10, p. 331. 

 R.H. 1908:60. Var. alba, Hort., has white fls. A 

 well-known greenhouse plant. Old plants turned into 

 the soil in late spring in a sunny exposure bloom pro- 

 fusely until frost. Plants struck from fall cuttings also 

 give good bloom the following summer, but younger 

 plants usually do not bloom so well. Plants can be 

 kept hi a cellar during winter, or they may be grown 

 under glass for spring and summer bloom. It is an 

 excellent rafter plant. In S. Calif, it climbs trees 15-20 

 ft. high if undisturbed. P. capensis and the white-fld. 

 varieties are the commonest kinds. 



3080. Plumbago capensis. 

 (XX) 



zeylanica, Linn. Half-climbing, much branched, 

 glabrous except the infl., which is glandular-hairy: Ivs. 

 ovate or oblong, obtuse or acute, the base of the short- 

 winged petiole clasping the st.: fls. white, shorter than 

 in P. capensis, the exserted part of the tube scarcely 

 longer than the obovate retuse corolla-lobes, the calyx 

 glandular-hairy: caps, long-oblong, 5-grooved above. 

 Tropics of Asia and Afr., and east to Austral, and Hawaii. 

 B.R. 32:23. Little grown now, as it is inferior to the 

 white-fld. form of P. capensis. Distinguished from 

 that species by its shorter fls. and different Ivs. 



scandens, Linn. Somewhat woody, trailing or 

 climbing, much branched, glabrous, the branches 

 grooved: corolla white with mucronate lobes, the tube 

 twice longer than the glandular-hairy calyx-tube; 

 stamens 4, exserted: Ivs. ovate-lanceolate to oblong- 

 lanceolate, pointed, stalked. Trop. Amer., and also in 

 southernmost parts of U. S. 



BB. Annual, with erect sts. 



caeritfea, HBK. Erect annual, 1-1 ^ ft. tall, with 

 branched terete sts.: Ivs. more or less rhomboidal, 

 tapering to a winged and auricled petiole, glabrous and 

 entire, the upper ones smaller: fls. small but rich in 

 color, few and separate in a terminal spike, the tube 

 purple and twice longer than the calyx, the segms. oval 

 and acute, deep bluish purple with dark line in center; 

 filaments not dilated. Peru. B.M. 2917 (as P. rhom- 

 boidea). L jj. B. 



PLUMERIA (Charles Plumier, 1646-1706, distin- 

 guished French botanist). Also spelled Plumiera and 

 Plumieria. Apocynacese. Tropical trees grown for 

 their showy and very fragrant flowers. 



Leaves alternate, penninerved, the primary veins 

 joined to a nerve running parallel with the margin : fls. 

 in terminal 2-3-chotomous cymes: bracts usually large 

 and covering the young buds but deciduous long before 

 anthesis; corolla-tube cylindrical throughout; stamens 

 included, near the base of the tube; disk wanting or 

 fleshy and covering the tube of the calyx; ovules in 

 many series: follicles 2. About 50 species, all Trop. 

 American, of which 2 kinds at present are offered in S. 

 Calif, and 2 in S. Fla. The species are much confused 

 and imperfectly understood. 



Plumerias are amongst the most fragrant of tropical 

 flowers, vying in this respect with the jessamine, Cape 

 jasmine, and tuberose. They have large waxy funnel- 

 shaped flowers with 5 spreading lobes of white, yellow, 

 rose-purple, or combinations of the three colors. Choice 

 specimens have been known to bear clusters 9 inches 

 across, composed of more than twenty flowers each 3% 

 inches across. They are considerably cultivated in all 

 tropical lands. In the Pacific islands, P. acutifolia is 

 frequent in graveyards. The word frangipani is sup- 

 posed to be from the French, franchipanier, coagulated 

 milk, referring to the tenacious white juice which 

 exudes plentifully from the wounded plant. Other 

 accounts suppose it to have come from an Italian noble- 

 man of that 

 name who in the 

 Middle Ages 

 compounded a 

 perfume of many 

 ingredients and 

 which the odor 

 of these flowers 

 resembled. All 

 species are likely 

 to be called 

 frangipani. 

 Plumerias are 

 essentially sum- 

 mer-growing 

 plants. Keep 

 rather dry in 308 1. Plumeria acutifolia. 



