[4] Originally native to Mexico, Central America, Colombia and Venezuela, it has been widely cultivated in subtropical and tropical climates worldwide and is a popular garden and park plant, as well as being used in temples and cemeteries.

It grows as a spreading tree to 7–8 m (23–26 ft) high and wide, and is flushed with fragrant flowers of shades of pink, white and yellow over the summer and autumn.

[10] In other parts of Indonesia and Malaysia, it acquired different names like cempaka or chempaka derived from the resemblance of its fragrance to the champaca tree.

It also acquired the name bunga kamboja (literally "flower of Cambodia") in Malay, referencing its foreign origin.

[13] Plumeria rubra belongs to the dogbane family and grows as a spreading shrub or small tree to a height of 2–8 m (5–25 ft) and similar width.

[16] The large green leaves can reach 30 to 50 cm (12 to 20 in) long and are arranged alternately and clustered at the end of the branches.

[6] Its native range extends from Baja California into central Mexico south through Central America (Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, El Salvador, Belize, Honduras, Panama) to the Department of Antioquia in Colombia and Venezuela in South America.

They can survive in locations with prominent dry seasons, where they can flower on the bare branches, or in more humid conditions, where they can remain evergreen.

[18] It is also grown in Hawaii to an altitude of 2000 m.[12] They tolerate a wide variety of soils, from acid to alkaline and sandy to clay.

[18] These plants grow best in dry to medium moisture, well-drained soils in full sun and will bloom through most of the year in tropical areas.

They do not grow well in wet soils and in areas with temperatures below 10 °C (50 °F) during the winter seasons, the plants will stop blooming and shed their leaves.

[16] Widely available in nurseries, frangipanis are readily propagated by cuttings of branches taken in cooler months and left to dry for a week or more.

[22] In temperate areas P. rubra must be grown under glass, in a large conservatory or similar, due to its requirement for warm conditions.

[12] The white and yellow flowered “Singapore" cultivar, also from the United States, usually holds its leaves all year round in Hawaii.

[12][26] It was first recognised by the French mycologist Narcisse Théophile Patouillard on Guadeloupe Island in the eastern Caribbean in 1902, and had reached Taiwan by 2005.

[28] In Cambodia, as with other Plumeria species, P. rubra flowers is used for necklaces, as offerings to deities or as decoration for coffins.

The flowers can be boiled in water or juice and made into a salad to promote bowel movement, urine flow, and to control gas and phlegm.

[15] On the Molokai island in the Hawaiian archipelago, P. rubra is cultivated in order to produce neck garlands (leis).