champa or dok champa. In Bengali culture, most white flowers, and in particular, plumeria (Bengali, চম্পা chômpa or চাঁপা chãpa), are associated with funerals and death. Also in the Philippines, Indonesia, and Malaysia, the plumeria is often associated with ghosts and cemeteries. Yangsze Choo in her novel The Night Tiger for example described it as is “the graveyard flower of the Malays.” Plumerias often are planted on burial grounds in all three nations. They are also common ornamental plants in houses, parks, parking lots, and other open-air establishments in the Philippines. Balinese Hindus use the flowers in their temple offerings. The plumeria's fragrance is also associated with the Kuntilanak, an evil vampiric spirit of a dead mother in Malaysian-Indonesian folklores. Indian incenses scented with Plumeria rubra have "champa" in their names. For example, nag champa is an incense containing a fragrance combining plumeria and sandalwood. While plumeria is an ingredient in Indian champa incense, the extent of its use varies between family recipes. Most champa incenses also incorporate other tree resins, such as Halmaddi (Ailanthus triphysa) and benzoin resin, as well as other floral ingredients, including champaca (Magnolia champaca), geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), and vanilla (Vanilla planifolia) to produce a more intense, plumeria-like aroma. In the Western Ghats of Karnataka, the bride and groom exchange garlands of cream-coloured plumeria during weddings. Red-colored flowers are not used in weddings. Plumeria plants are found in most of the temples in these regions. In Sri Lankan tradition, plumeria is associated with worship. One of the heavenly damsels in the frescoes of the fifth-century rock fortress Sigiriya holds a five-petalled flower in her right hand that is indistinguishable from plumeria. In Eastern Africa, frangipani are sometimes referred to in Swahili love poems. Some species of plumeria have been studied for their potential medicinal value. Gallery References https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WYgxw8Uy14&t=4s Easy way to make a Plumeria Floral Garland archived in Ghostarchive.org on 19 April 2022 External links Apocynaceae genera Flora of Central America Flora of South America Flora of the Caribbean Garden plants of South America