Plumeria, known as frangipani, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. Most species are deciduous shrubs or small trees. The species variously are endemic to Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean, and as far south as Brazil and north as Florida (United States), but are grown as cosmopolitan ornamentals in warm regions.

Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers yield no nectar, though, and simply trick their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.

The genus is named in honor of 17th-century French botanist and Catholic monk Charles Plumier, who traveled to the New World documenting many plant and animal species.

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.

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