A glossary of Thai flower names
A quick-reference glossary matching the Thai flowers covered on this site to their common English names and botanical (Latin) names, for anyone who wants to look a species up further.
Why a glossary
Thai flowers often go by several names at once — a Thai name, an English common name, and a Latin botanical name that pins the species down precisely. This page is a quick cross-reference for the flowers covered across this site, useful if you want to look a species up further or double-check exactly what's being described.
| Thai name | Common name | Botanical name |
|---|---|---|
| Ratchaphruek (ราชพฤกษ์) | Golden shower tree | Cassia fistula |
| Bua (บัว) | Sacred lotus | Nelumbo nucifera |
| Bua (บัว), broadly | Water lily | Nymphaea species |
| Mali (มะลิ) | Arabian / Sambac jasmine | Jasminum sambac |
| Lantom / Leelawadee (ลีลาวดี) | Frangipani, plumeria | Plumeria species |
| Fueng fah (เฟื่องฟ้า) | Bougainvillea | Bougainvillea species |
| Chaba (ชบา) | Hibiscus | Hibiscus rosa-sinensis |
| Khem (เข็ม) | Ixora | Ixora coccinea |
| Dao ruang (ดาวเรือง) | Marigold | Tagetes erecta |
| Dok rak (ดอกรัก) | Crown flower | Calotropis gigantea |
| Champee / Champaka (จำปี/จำปา) | Champaka | Magnolia champaca |
| Hang nok yung (หางนกยูง) | Flame tree, Royal Poinciana | Delonix regia |
| Dok krachiao | Torch ginger | Etlingera elatior |
| — | Dendrobium orchid | Dendrobium species |
| — | Vanda orchid | Vanda species |
Reading the table
A few flowers on this site — heliconia, canna, plumbago, allamanda, and the many orchid hybrids in particular — cover whole genera or groups of cultivated hybrids rather than one single species, so no single tidy Latin binomial applies to ‘an orchid’ the way it does to the sacred lotus. Where that's the case, this glossary lists the genus rather than inventing false precision.
For the stories behind these names, see national flowers, orchids, the lotus, frangipani & jasmine, tropical blooms and marigolds.