707 
PLUMERIA. 
Chriftoplier, by the name of Japan-tree, with an account 
that it had then been lately introduced from the Spanifh 
Welt Indies. The ftalks do not rife fo high as the pre¬ 
ceding; the leaves are of a thicker confidence, and the 
veins larger; the flowers are in much larger cluflers ; it 
being common to have upwards of twenty open in one 
bunch, with a number to fucceed thefe as they decay ; fo 
that the cluflers continue in beauty upwards of two 
months, during which time they make a moft beautiful 
appearance in the flove,and have a very agreeable odour. 
The annexed Engraving, which is copied from Catefby, 
feems to anfwer to this variety, rather than to the re¬ 
gular fpecies. 
2. Plumeria acuminata, or (harp Eaft-Indian plumeria : 
leaves lanceolate, flat, taper-pointed ; flower-ftalks 
fmooth, even. Native, as well as cultivated, in various 
parts of the Eaft Indies, being much admired for its 
beautiful and fragrant white flowers. Thefe, according 
to Rumphius, are fometimes candied with fugar. It was 
introduced at Kew, about 1790, by fir Jofeph Banks, and 
flowers there from June to September. The habit of the 
plant is like the preceding, but the corolla is white with 
a yellow' mouth ; the flower-ftalks fmooth ; and the leaves 
much more pointed. The tapering leaves, and lefs tumid 
or rugged flower-ftalks, diftinguifli this from the follow¬ 
ing, which the flowers moft nearly refemble. 
3. Plumeria alba, or white Weft-Indian plumeria: 
leaves lanceolate, revolute; peduncles tuberous above. 
This tree has the habit of red plumeria, but. it is not 
much branched, and rarely exceeds fifteen feet in height; 
it abounds like that in a rniiky juice. The flowers are 
white with a yellowifh eye, and diffufe a very fweet odour 
to a confiderable -diftance : Linnaeus fays, it is ambrofiac, 
and fo ftrong as to excite the head-ach; but that all 
powerfully fweet fmells will do in fome conftitutions, 
particularly in a hot day or a warm climate. Linnaeus 
adds, that the flowers are in fpikes, and that the leaves 
are rolled back on the fides. Mr. Miller remarks, that 
this is not near fo beautiful as the red ; the flowers being 
fmaller, produced in lefs bunches, and of fhorter dura¬ 
tion ; but that for the beauty of the item and leaves it 
deferves a place in every curious colleflion. It grows 
plentifully at Campeachy, whence the feeds were fent by 
Dr. Houftoun, who alfo obferved fome plants of it at 
Jamaica. Browne confiders it as a native of that ifland ; 
and Jacquin of Martinico. It was introduced by 
William Houftoun, M. D. and cultivated by Mr. Miller 
before 1733. 
4. Plumeriacuneata, or wedge-leaved plumeria: leaves 
obovate, fomewhat wedge-fhaped, rounded, pointlefs; 
veins diftant. Cultivated at Cayenne, according to 
Aublet,' who took it for the P. alba. The younger Lin¬ 
naeus juftly remarked that this muft conftitute a diftinft 
fpecies, though lie had feen merely the leaves. 
5. Plumeria obtufa, or blunt-leaved plumeria: leaves 
lanceolate, petioled, blunt. This produces fmall white 
flowers refembiing thofe of the preceding. The leaves 
are oval, lanceolate; and the peduncles branched. L011- 
reiro defcribes it as a thick tree exceeding the middle 
fize, with an afti-coloured fmooth milky bark, a juicy 
brittle wood, and fpreading thick twifted branches. 
Leaves quite entire, large, flat, fmooth, fcattered, with 
many tranfverfe ribs. Flowers terminating, in com¬ 
pound fpreading upright racemes; corollas odorous, 
white, mixed on the outfide with red, on the infide with 
yellow; calyx tubular, fliort, deciduous, fiightly five- 
cleft; fegments rounded, ereft; corolla inferior; tube 
fmall, curved. 
Miller calls it P. nivea; and fays it was difcovered by 
Dr. Houftoun, growing in great plenty near Carthagena 
in the Spanifh Weft Indies, whence he fent the feeds to 
England. Plumier found it in South America, and 
Catefby in Carolina. According to the Kew Catalogue, 
it is a native of the Weft Indies, and was introduced in 
* 7 ?> 3 > by John Greg, efq. If fo, P. obtufa is fuppofed to 
be different from Miller’s nivea. If Rumphius’s Flos 
convolutus, and Loureiro’s P. obtufa, be the fame with 
Linnaeus’s P. obtufa, it is alfo a native of Amboyna, 
China, and Cochinchina, where it is cultivated on 
account of the beauty and fweet fmell of the flowers. It 
is reprefented, with the copper-coloured paffion-flower 
.twining round it, on Plate I. of Passiflora, vol. xviii. 
P- 747 - 
6. Plumeria pudica, orclofe-flowefed plumeria : border 
of the corolla clofed. This is an upright milky (hrub, 
five feet in height, of the fame habit with the others. 
Leaves oblong, flat, veined. Flowers numerous, yellow¬ 
ifh, the border continuing ere£l and fhut, even after they 
drop ; being rolled up like the flowers of Hibifcus or 
Achania malvavifcus; they fucceed each other conti¬ 
nually for two months together; and have an odour 
much more agreeable than that of the preceding fpecies, 
or even of any other known flower. It is highly efteemed 
at Curasao ; and is there called donzelle ; from the property 
of the flower mentioned above. They cultivate it there 
in the gardens; but it is not known from what part of 
South America it was introduced. 
The French name of this genus, Frangipanier, al¬ 
ludes to its fragrance, frangipani being a fort of perfume, 
fo called in France from its inventor, an Italian, of the 
Frangipani family, fo confpicuous in the Roman diftur- 
bances of the twelfth century. 
Propagation and Culture. All thefe plants may be 
propagated by feeds procured from the countries where 
they grow. Sow them in pots filled with light earth ; 
plunge them into a tan-pit, and, when the plants are two 
inches high, tranfplant them feparately into fmall pots 
filled with light fandy earth; plunge them into the hot¬ 
bed again, (hading them in the middle of the day until 
they have taken root: they muft not have much water; 
for, being very fucculent, much moifture will caufe them 
to rot. In hot weather the plants fliould have a large 
lhare of frelh air admitted to them, by railing the glafles 
of the hot-bed everyday, in proportion to the warmth of 
the feafon, to prevent their drawing up weak. Towards 
Michaelmas, when the nights begin to be cold, the plants 
fliould be removed into the Hove, and plunged into the 
bark-bed, where they muft remain during the winter. 
As thefe plants all caft their leaves in the middle of 
winter, and continue deftitute of them till about the be¬ 
ginning of Mayf’during that time they fliould be watered 
very fparingly, becaufe they are in more danger of rotting, 
while they are in a lefs adfive ftate, by too much moifture, 
than when they are furnilhed with leaves, through which 
the moifture is more freely perfpired. They are too 
tender to thrive in the open air of this country; there¬ 
fore they fliould be conftantly preferved in the ftove, 
where, in warm weather, they muft have a large 
lhare of free air, but in cold weather they muft be kept 
very warm. While they are young, it will be proper to 
continue them in the bark-bed ; but, when they have ob¬ 
tained fcrength, they may be placed in a dry ftove, where 
they will thrive well, provided they are kept in a mo¬ 
derate temperature of heat, and have not too much 
water. 
Thefe plants may alfo be propagated by cuttings, 
which fliould be taken from the old plants two months 
before they are planted, during which time they Ihould 
be laid on the flues in the ftove, that the part which 
joined to the old plant may be healed over before they 
are planted, otherwife they will rot. Thefe cuttings 
fliould be planted in fmall pots filled with light fandy 
earth, and plunged into a moderate hot-bed of tanner’s 
bark, obferving to fhade them in the heat of the day 
from the fun, and refrefh them once in a week or ten days 
with water, but it muft be given to them fparingly each 
time. If the cuttings fucceed, they will have taken root 
in about two months, when they fhould have a larger 
(hare of air to harden them by degrees to bear the fun 
and air, and afterwards may be treated as the old plants. 
The 
