Plumeria is another name for frangipani. Almost everyone in Australia uses the word “frangipani” however “Plumeria” is used in other parts of the world including North America.
Most frangipanis being sold in Australia will have Plumeria written on the tag. When writing the names of frangipani species, Plumeria is often abbreviated to just the letter P.
Plumeria rubra (P. rubra).
Plumeria obtusa (P. obtusa).
Plumeria pudica (P. pudica).
Plumeria stenophylla (P. stenophylla)
Plumeria caracasana (P. caracasana)
Plumeria sericifolia (P. sericifolia)
The Plumeria Genus
In taxonomy, a family of plants can be made up with a single genus of plants but more usually numerous genera of plants. Each genus consists of one or more species. Plumeria (frangipani) is a genus of plants. We group our frangipanis into the above six species.
Frangipani Ring Ins
The Climbing Frangipani and the Native Frangipani are NOT part of the Plumeria genus. For more information, see our frangipani varieties page.
New Species or Sub-Species
There a number of frangipanis that appear to be related to the obtusa however the experts have yet to decide whether they should be relegated to a sub-species of obtusa or be elevated to their own frangipani species.
Some people and sometimes, the stenophylla and the sericifolia (aka cubensis) are considered to each have a species of their own and written as above and sometimes they are considered to be a sub species of the obtusa and written, Plumeria obtusa var. stenophylla and Plumeria obtusa var. sericifolia.