April 1, 2007
Plumeria
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Last year I was reading a contemporary fiction story about a mainland American woman and her experiences upon moving to Hawaii. Throughout the book she referred numerous times to frangipani. Having lived here for a dozen years, I could not understand why she stated that the fragrant flower grew everywhere. I’d heard of frangipani in literary references before, but had no clue what it was or why I had not met it yet. When I finally thought to look it up, I understood. Called frangipani in Mexico and South America, it is locally known as plumeria, and it is indeed ubiquitous. Named melia in Hawaiian, they are so popular that most people here assume that they’re indigenous, but plumeria arrived as an import after Western contact. As I menioned in my last post, I react with typical allergy symptoms to its presence, but there is no getting away from it in Hawaii. I have a plumeria tree in my own yard and mostly just allow it to take care of itself. I started it from a cut stem perhaps six to eight inches long right after I bought the house ten years ago and it stands at about ten or twelve feet now. I’ve cut it back frequently because it is prone to whitefly and aphid infestations, difficult to treat in taller trees. I’m not sure what height they can attain, but there are twenty-footers in my neighborhood. New-growth branches are rubbery in look and touch, but will break with a crisp snap under pressure, so this is not a tree for climbing or propping a ladder in. Any break unleashes an oozing tide of white sap, looking and feeling much like white glue and quite poisonous, so gloves are recommended and frequent hand-washing essential when handling plumeria (though, in truth, everyone here handles them and I’ve never heard of a poisoning case. Still, better safe than sorry.) I’ve seen some trees that were never pruned and branched out to cover a circumference of twenty to thirty feet.
My plumeria blooms year-round. There are brief die-backs in blooming, but I’ve never seen a plumeria completely denuded of blossoms. I always know when a hula competition is coming up because word has gotten around that my flowers are abundant and free for the picking. Even girls too young to sew their own costumes are expert lei-makers and proud of carrying on the tradition of gathering the raw materials needed. I love to hear the call from outside my gate, “Auntie, can I pick plumeria for my lei?” They are also one of the most popular blooms found at the airport lei stands and other shops around the island. Their heady fragrance is a bonus when a single flower is tucked behind an ear. Though most women don’t bother, there are little test tube-like clips that can help keep them in place and keep sap from making a sticky mess of ones hair.
You can learn more about plumeria and see some of the other color varieties in this Wikipedia article.
Technorati Tags: plumeria, life in Hawaii, flowers, gardening, flowering trees
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April 1st, 2007 at 6:15 am, Lee Says:
I am so fascinated by the native plants that are common place there but are exotic here…I’m used to warm weather gardening, but y’all have some amazing things around you!! Two gardening related posts in row too
April 1st, 2007 at 9:25 am, My Lil Venture Says:
Lovely flowers. Btw, your template looks cool. Does it come ready with widgets?
April 1st, 2007 at 11:03 am, Whim Says:
Beautiful! And it is very nice of you to share your blooms with others.
April 1st, 2007 at 2:23 pm, hyphen8 Says:
Yep, I know what frangipani is, but *nobody* I know who lives here calls it that. If I remember correctly it’s one of ghir’s pet peeves.
And then there’s the bit in the Jason Scott Lee “Jungle Book” where they keep trying to smell the red hibiscus, and I don’t think I’ve ever run across a hibiscus that had any smell worth mentioning..
April 1st, 2007 at 6:48 pm, skeet Says:
Lee - Takes allo the fun out of gardening when stuff does so well with no work, though.
My lil venture: It’s a custom design. Comes with whatever I ask her to put in. Hopefully she’ll finish it up tomorrow!
Whim - and it was lovely of you to say so, my friend!
-8 - Wait, now! She grew up here to, and wants everyone to call it frangipani? Strange. And, yeah, I’ve never been around a hibiscus that has a noticable fragrance, either.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:54 pm, Tricia Says:
That’s a gorgeous flower! Imagining how lovely it would be to live somewhere where a tree or other plants would flower all year round. That would be heaven to me, it really would.
Welcome to Green Thumb Sunday. I’m sorry that so few people ended up participating - well visiting - this time round. It will get better - I will make it better.
BTW sometimes people catch up through the week, so you still might get some Green Thumb Visitors.
April 1st, 2007 at 9:54 pm, hyphen8 Says:
No, no, I’m pretty sure she finds it *very irritating* it when people call it that. :s
April 1st, 2007 at 11:25 pm, skeet Says:
Tricia, no need to apologize. I know how hard you’ve worked on this. And, um, I only made it through ten or twelve so far. I’ll catch up!
8 - Yeah, that makes more sense, lol!