File:Cocuisa (349233673).jpg

Common name: Rangoon Creeper, Parijat (Manipuri), Madhu Malati मधु मालती (Hindi, Marathi, Konkani), Ishq pecha इश्क़ पेचां (Urdu), Madhumanjari (Bengali)

Botanical name: Quisqualis indica - [ (kwis-KWAL-iss) from the Latin quis ("who") and qualis ("what kind"), referring to the uncertainty of its family when first discovered; (IN-dih-kuh) or (in-DEE-kuh) of or from India ] Family: Combretaceae (rangoon creeper family)

Origin: Burma, Malay Peninsula, New Guinea, and the Philippine Islands

Called cocuisa in Dominican Republic. An extremely beautiful shrubby vine with pale-pink to deep crimson star shaped flowers that are borne in tight clusters, covering the entire plant when in full bloom. It's scent is unforgettable and very hard to pin point it's exact scent, but we would have to say sweet, fruity and intoxicating! Grows best at temperatures above 40 degrees. Fairly hardy, one of the favorites for fragrance! The fragrant flowers are born in clusters and each flower has many variations of color, depending on how old the flower is. The flower starts out white and or pink striped and turn solid pink and finally dark pink on maturity.

Leaves - opposite, oblong or obovate. Flowers - short, axillary and terminal drooping racemes, white first and then rosy or scarlet, with a narrow tube. Fruit; oblong, with sharp angles, glabrous, black. Flowers and fruits during May to September. It will die back in lower temperatures but should come back in the spring. The most popular Thai hybrid has double flowers.

Courtesy: - Flowers of India - Dave's Garden - Top Tropicals