Common Trees of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

DOGBANE FAMILY (APOCYNACEAE)
Key to the 3 spedcs illustrated (Nos. 217-no)
A. Leaves alternate.
B. Leaves narrowly lance-shoped, long-pointed, with edge# turned under, the lower surface densely white hairy;
flowers white-217. Pltrn~eria aIba.
BB. Leaves elliptic, short-polnted, edges not turned under, lower surface often hairy; flowers red, yellow, or
white--218. Plumeria ru bra..
atL Leaves whorled, 4 of unequal size at a node-219. Rauvolpa nftfda.
217. Aleli, milktree Plumeria alba L
This attractive wild tree, with milky juice or
white latex which runs abundantly from cut parts,
is easily distinguished by : (1) its peculiar shape
\vitllout a crown of foliage but wit11 a few stout
soft and brittle brnnches endin in clusters of
crowded sprending leaves; (2) t e long narrow
lance-shaped leaves 6-15 inches long and s/8-2
inches broad, shiny green on up er surface and
densely and minutely white hairy 6 eneath; (3) the
clusters of showy and very frngrnnt, tubular and
spreading, waxy, white floweis 11/24 inches long
and broad, with 5 overlapping elliptic corolla
lobes; nnd (4) tlie paired brown pods 4 6 inches
long and about ?/z inch in diameter.
A small evergreen tree to 10-15 feet or more in
llei ht and 4 inches in trunk diameter or shrubby,
wit f 1 bare branches. The smoothish bark is brown-
is11 gray. Inner bnrk is ornnge, slightly bitter,
\\-hen cut yielding mucll Itltex, \\-hidl reportedly is
poisonous. The twig I,$-7 inch in diameter are
greenish, becoming rownis 1 grny, and have numerous
nearly round leaf scars.
The leaves are alternate on petioles S/4-11,$
inches long. Blades are long-pointed at both ends
thick and leathery \!-it11 edges turned under, and
with man lateral veins spreading out almost at
surface. i right ang es from the midrib, hairless on upper
A flower stalk ,343 inches long, arising amon
the leaves, benrs several to many short-stalk 3
flowers in a compact, flattened cluster (cyme).
The small calyx is nbout I/s inch long, 5-lobed;
corolla with narrow tube and 5 widely spreading
lobes, \mxy and white except for n yellow dot or
"eye" at the base of each lobe; 5 smnll stamens
inserted near base of corolln tube; and pistil of 2
separate ovaries nbout I/g incll long, partly inferior,
with single short style.
Each fruit consists of 2 brown gods (follicles),
long-pointed and widely spreading, containing
a
many flat winged seeds. Flowering and fruiting
throughout the year in Puerto Rico.
The wood with light brown snpwood is hard,
heav (s ecific gravlty 0.8), and touph. A fuelrodin
suerto Rim but used also in carpentry
where the tree grows to sufficient size.
This species apparently is not in cultivation
though it should be a hardy ornamental for dry
areas. The white-flowered aleli commonly grown
for ornament belongs instead to the related rntrotluced
species, frangipani (Plwneria d r a L.*)
which ty icall has red blossoms. white-flowered
forms o i' the ?' atter are distin ished by broader
elliptic leaves enish beneat and by more numerous
larger b Y f'
ossoms.
Coastal thickets and limestone forests at low
elevations and nscendin in the western mountains
of Puerto Rico. ~lso%luertcq Icmos, Culebra,
Vieques, St. Croix, St, Thomas, St. John, Tortola,
Virgin Gorda, and Anegada.
Puar,rc FORESTS.-Cambalache, Gurinica, Maricno,
Susfia.
RANGE.-PUOIZO Rim and Virgin Islands and
throughout Lesser Antilles from Anguilla to
Grenada.
OTHER COXMON N~ES.-aleli blanco, alelaila
(Puerto Rico) ; milky-bush (Virgin Islands) ;
jasmine (Barbuda) ; hngipanier sauvage (Guadeloupe)
; white hngepane, pigeonwood (Dutch
1';est Indies).
The generic name honoring the French botanist
Charles Plumier is spelled also Plumiem and
Plumieria.
Aleli cimarr6n (Plumeria obtwa L.; synonyms
P. kmqii Urban, P. portoricemi8 Urban) is a related
species of dry arens of western Puerto Riw
and Mona and west to Cuba and Bahamas. This
smnll tree has oblong leaves 21/24 inches long,
rounded or notched at apex.