Frangipane or Plumeria, the tropical plant with an exotic scent

The exotic species that exudes sweet and fresh notes

In the fragrances at the base of soaps or room fragrances it can happen to find the essence of frangipani. It is an extremely precious plant extract (the cost of frangipani essential oil is very high), which is obtained from a particular plant and which has unique characteristics: let’s find out.

Frangipani: species and names of the plant

The Frangipane plant is a species belonging to the Apocinaceae family, to which also numerous ornamental and pharmacological plants belong, native to Central America and more precisely to the tropical countries of the area, indicatively between Venezuela and Mexico: it is the plant from which the flowers are obtained to weave the typical Hawaiian welcome necklaces and in many Pacific islands.

The name Frangipane or Frangipani is actually the vulgar appellation, since the correct botanical term to designate this plant is Plumeria, although it is sometimes also called Pomelia. During the 1700s, the Plumeria crossed the ocean and come to Europe as well, where today we can find it especially in areas with a Mediterranean climate: in Italy there are numerous specimens of Pomelie or Frangipani present in Palermo and throughout Sicily.

The flowers of Plumeria or Frangipane

Of the Frangipani plant, the flowers are best known and appreciated. In fact, during the flowering period of the Pomelia which coincides with summer, the green and large leaves are accompanied by beautiful oleander-like flowers, star-shaped and with a number of petals ranging from 5 to 7, characterized by white color with internal shades of yellow or other colors (from pink to red). After flowering, however, the plant produces berries, which are however poisonous.

Precisely the beauty of its flowers, also sometimes called “flowers of paradise“, has made the Frangi a balcony plant over time, however used for decorative and ornamental purposes, but in nature and in its places of origin this species can also reach dimensions considerable, up to 10 meters high.

The scent of Frangipane

However, the flowers of Frangipani plants are not only beautiful to look at, but also to smell. The perfume of Pomelia is in fact particularly renowned for its delicacy and for a particular sweetness, the result of a combination of different notes that are pleasantly added to each other: a polite sense of smell will recognize a citrus component in a bunch of Frangipane, a more floral tone that recalls jasmine and wild rose and a seductive spicy scent that oscillates between vanilla and cinnamon.

A real composite bouquet of perfumes that gives life to an exotic fragrance, although perhaps this definition could even be reductive. The penetrating freshness of the Frangipane essence is able to exert a seductive power on all the senses, with the ability to awaken the mind and the spirit: not for nothing in the East this fragrance is associated with life after death and enjoys the epithet “eternal perfume“.