Monday, June 18, 2007

Fragrant Frangipani...

These lovely flowers have at least two different names; in Hawaii the are called Plumeria and in other parts of the world the are referred to as Frangipani. I believe the first time I ran across the name Frangipani was while I was reading the "Arabian Nights" and I had to look it up...in those days we had to use a Encyclopedia for reference info, lol! And then just the other day a fellow photo blogger referenced it again for me...is anyone aware of any other names they go by?

I wish I could share their perfume with you, absolutely intoxicating...it is worth ordering a lei to be shipped to you just to smell these flowers! And oddly enough the trees happens to be the ugliest most barren looking collection of sticks you could ever find...they usually don't even have many leaves, you would think the tree was dead and then the entire canopy erupts with blossoms!

When I first moved to Hawaii we used to drive by a huge Plumeria tree and I could have cried to see all of the blossoms littering the ground and road, now I understand better and can appreciate the pretty picture a carpet of flowers makes.

7 comments:

Kate said...

You are absolutely correct about the fragrance and their beauty. Your photo captures the lovely blossoms beautifully. When in Hawaii (not often enough) I used to collect them from the ground and use their beauty to grace a bowl of water in our condo and often put them in my hair. They don't last long enough, tho!!

MumbaiiteAnu said...

Great photo of the fragnant beautiful Frangipani.
I like your description and information too.
I'm new to flower photography, and I've posted 'Pink Oleander' today.

poody said...

This is how Hawaii smells! The minute you get off the plane you can smeel the plumeria!

Gerald (SK14) said...

I never know the names of flowers

Anonymous said...

Hi! In Thailand Frangipani is often called Temple Tree because they are placed next to temples. Or they're called Leelavadee (Leelawadee). I don't know any other names except the ones i mentioned and Plumeria and Frangipani.

Unknown said...

The Chinese name for these flowers translates to mean "egg flower" just in case you were interested :)

AlohaTrevella said...

"Egg Flower"...cool!, I wonder why? Thanks for the info!