FRANGIPANI

"COAGULATED MILK"

This small ornamental tree is named after a French word meaning ‘coagulated milk’. The caustic milky sap that flows from a cut branch has been employed in folk medicine. It is a native of the West Indies. There is a wild bush variety, P. alba, with white flowers. It hosts a very large caterpillar of the Hawk Moth, (Pseudosphinx tetrio). The caterpillar is very conspicuous with yellow bands on black and having a red head. It feeds on the poisonous sap, thus becoming poisonous to the birds that might eat the caterpillars.

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Special thanks to the late Desmond Nicholson of the Museum of Antigua & Barbuda and Peter Duce for making this section of Antigua Nice Ltd possible!

 

 

Frangipani,Antigua Flora

 
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