Allamanda
(Allamanda schotti, Allamanda cathartica)
Family: Apocynaceae
This species was first described by Johann Baptist
Emanuel Pohl, who reported it grew on the banks of
the Paraíba river in southeastern Brazil in 1827.
As well as bush allamanda, common names include
Schott's common allamanda and oleander allamanda.
This is an easy-to-grow flowering shrub that offers a
display of flowers all spring and summer long. It is very
heat tolerant, and can grow either in containers or in
the ground.
Frangipani
(Plumeria)
Family: Apocynaceae
Most species of Plumeria are deciduous shrubs or
small trees. The species variously are indigenous to
Mexico, Polynesia, Central America, and the
Caribbean, and as far south as Brazil, but are grown
as cosmopolitan ornamentals in warm regions.
Common names for plants in the genus vary widely
according to region, variety, and whim, but frangipani
or variations on that theme are the most common.
Plumeria also is used directly as a common name,
especially in horticultural circles.
Among the Maya, plumerias have been associated
with deities representing life and fertility, and the
flowers also became strongly connected with female
sexuality. Nahuatl speaking people during the height of
the Aztec Empire used plumerias to signify elite status,
and planted plumeria trees in the gardens of nobles.
“Every flower is a soul
blossoming in nature.”
– Gerard De Nerval
March/April 2018 GASPARILLA ISLAND 79