Imágenes de Nicaragua

Sacuanjoche Plumeria Frangipani

Paisaje Nicaragüense
Sacuanjoche
Acuarela sobre papel
10 por 14 pulgadas

Sacuanjoche (Frangipani)
Plumeria
Watercolor
10" by 14 "

Plumeria (common name Frangipani; syn. Himatanthus Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.) is a small genus of 7-8 species native to tropical and subtropical America. The genus consists of mainly deciduous shrubs and trees. P. rubra (Common Frangipani, Red Frangipani), native to Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela, produces flowers ranging from yellow to pink depending on form or cultivar. The genus is also related to the Oleander, Nerium oleander. Both are known to possess poisonous, milky sap, rather similar to that of Euphorbia. In Mexico, the Nahuatl (Aztec language) name for this plant is "cacalloxochitl" which means "crow flower." It was used for many medicinal purposes such as salves and ointments.

From Mexico and Central America, Plumeria has spread to all tropical areas of the world, especially Hawaii, where it grows so abundantly that many people think that it is indigenous there. P. alba is the national flower of Nicaragua and Laos, where it is known under the local name "Sacuanjoche" (Nicaragua) and "Champa" (Laos).

The genus, originally spelled Plumiera, is named in honor of the seventeenth-century French botanist Charles Plumier, who traveled to the New World documenting many plant and animal species. The common name "Frangipani" comes from a sixteenth-century Italian noble family, a marquess of which invented a plumeria-scented perfume. Depending on location, however, many other common names exist: "Kembang Kamboja" in Indonesia, "Temple Tree" or "Champa" in India, "Kalachuchi" in the Philippines "Sacuanjoche" in Nicaragua and Central America, "Araliya" in Sri Lanka, "Champa" in Laos, and "Dead man's fingers" in Australia, for example. The Australian name is perhaps taken from its thin, leafless, finger-like branches. Many English speakers also simply use the generic name "plumeria".