Plumeria rubra medicinal uses

Small tree with milky latex. Leaves large, leathery, obovate, oblong, acute, glabrous above, ciliate at the base. Flowers showy, red or reddish white, fragrant in terminal corymbose cymes; bracts minute, deciduous. Calyx very short, green. Corolla lobes broad.

Common name

Lal Garuchampa, Kath gulancha, Kath champa.

Scientific name

Plumeria rubra

Family

Apocynaceae.

Distribution and ecology

Cultivated in gardens and grows wild in many parts of west Bengal.

Flowering and fruiting

October to May.

Uses

Whole plant

Used in cholera and indigestion.

Root

Bark used as astringent, carminative, thermogenic, laxative; useful in ulcers, pruritus and gastropath.

Bark

Used as stimulant; decoction used as purgative, cathartic, febrifuge, emmenagogue; used in dropsy and venereal affection. Poultice used for dispersing hard tumours.

Latex

Used as rubefacient, purgative, cathartic; used to treat itch, rheumatism and gum troubles.

Leaves

Used to treat fever, inflammation, swellings and rheumatism.

Flowers

Eaten with betel leaves as febrifuge.

Propagated by

Stem cutting.

Notes on cultivation

Grows on different soil varieties from sandy loam to poor gravelly soil in tropical climate.