Temppelipuut – Plumeria

Branchlets are distinctly thick (2-3 cm), nearly fleshy. Leaves are alternate or spiral, mostly clustered at the tip of branches, pinnately veined, usually glandular in the axils, petioled or subsessile. Inflorescence is axillary or terminal, pedunculate, dichotomous cyme. Bracts are usually large, deciduous before anthesis. Flowers are fragrant, waxy, large and showy. Calyx is small, 5-lobed, lobes equal or subequal. Corolla is white, yellowish, pink-red, or rose-purple, salverform or funnel-shaped, lobes 5, spreading, overlapping, thick, contorted in bud; tube narrow and hairy inside. Stamens are 5, attached near the base of corolla tube. Ovary is subsuperior with short style. Fruit is an elongated, up to 18 cm long follicle releasing numerous seeds. Seeds have a large membranous wing. All parts of the plant exude copious latex.