Plumeria Rubra - Common Names

Common Names

In Mexico the common name is Cacaloxochitl or Suchitl. The name comes from nahualt and means Crow's flower. The common name in Australia is 'frangipani', although 'plumeria' is used in the United States. Other common names are 'red frangipani', 'common frangipani', 'temple tree', or simply 'plumeria'. The term melia is a Hawaiian one. The common name 'frangipani' comes from an Italian noble family, a sixteenth-century marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume. It is grown extensively in southern and western parts of India, where it is named champa or a derivative thereof such as chaaphaa, champige etc. In Cambodia it is given the names châmpéi krahâ:m (also romanised as krahom, meaning 'red'), or châmpéi slük sruëch, while the French terms for the species is frangipanier à fleurs rouges