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Candle in the wind
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With its stark branches and ruby-red flowers, the Candle Tree is a species that is common throughout Asia
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Overpowering FRAGRANCE Plumeria or Candle Tree
Plumeria is a small tree with abundant ruby-red flowers. It is found in parks, pagodas, temples, tombs, mosques, monasteries, church yards and gardens. The tree has low, tapering, straight branches, bereft of leaves. They resemble burning candles and, therefore, arouse a feeling of reverence. The tree belongs to the Dogbanes family, Apocynaceae and grows in the Asian intertropical zone.
The copious flow of white latex is a well-known characteristic of the tree. Several vernacular names of the tree are based on this characteristic. The milk, mixed with sandalwood oil and camphor, cures itches and relieves rheumatic pain.
The smooth, grey bark has scaly patterns. The leaves have bold, horizontal veins, running parallel from the mid-rib to a scalloped border vein. Though the narrow, long leaves taper at both ends, the apex is more rounded and wide. The spiral crowding of leaves at the ends of branches is again a noticeable phenomenon. The branches and whole trees, when cut or taken out of the soil, continue to live, bursting into leaf and bloom. This is taken as a symbol of immortality of the tree.
Though profuse flowering takes place throughout the year, flowering is less abundant between November and January. The fruit is a pod, half a foot long. The tree rarely seeds. The flowers grow in upright clusters at branch ends, which hold as many as twenty individual blooms. The large, waxy white flower has a distinct yellow centre, with funnel shaped fine spreading petals faintly pinkish underneath curling over to the left. The stamens are inserted and invisible. The nocturnal fragrance of the flowers is overpowering.
The scientific name is Plumeria rubra varicolour. Because of its wide distribution, the tree is known by hundreds of local names — Pagoda Tree, Temple Tree are the most familiar. An ecclesiastic, a 17th Century French botanist, Charles Premier, gave the tree its generic name.
Plumeria rubra typica is a small tree with smaller leaves (red frangipani /red jasmine). P. rubra acutifolia has yellow-throated flowers and long, smooth leaves. Plumeria alba (white frangipani), native of the West Indies, has yellow eyed white flowers, long leaves without marginal vein and stems and buds are white without any touch of red. Plumeria obtusa has large dark leaves and larger pure white flowers.
Propagation is by planting cuttings and is easy even in sandy, stony soil. Wilt the cut branches before planting. Moderate watering is required. Once established, it takes care of itself.
J. MANGALARAJ JOHNSON
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