Quisqualis indica, commonly called Rangoon Creeper, Burmese Creeper, Drunken Sailor or Chinese Honeysuckle, is a vigorous, highly fragrant tropical vine, most likely native to India, Bangladesh, Myanmar (formerly Burma), Malaysia and the Philippines, but also widely spread to tropical and subtropical countries in the world. As all our books about tropical plants named the Rangoon creeper, Quisqualis indica L. 1762, we had to find out, that this is just the basionym, the accepted botanical name is Combretum indicum (L.) DeFilipps 1998. Even if the Rangoon creeper is blooming all around the year, the peak of the flowering period is March-April. Especially at night time and in early morning hours the 3-colored flowers exhale a strong, pleasant scent, reminescent of jasmine. In the wild this showy tropical creeper can reach a length up to about 20 meters, as used as a garden plant the rambunctious creeper should be trimmed regularly.

Like the tropical shrub flowers Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow (Brunfelsia australis), Drunken Sailor flowers are changing their color. At the first day blooms are white, the second day they change to pink and finally at the third day the flowers become red. Flowers, seeds (Niyog-niyogan nuts), leaves and roots of the Rangoon Creeper are widely used in nature medicine throughout South-East Asia. It was a bit of a giggle as we found out that the Latin meaning of the genus Quisqualis is translated as, What is that? So the basionym for that slendid tropical vine is translated as “Indian what is that”.

© Orchids Flowers.com
Image: Rangoon Creeper (Quisqualis indica)

© Orchids Flowers.com
Image: Rangoon Creeper (Quisqualis indica)