Michelia champaka

Michelia champaka

Biggest Plant Dictionary | Michelia champaka | Current name: Michelia champaca, Family: Magnoliaceae,  The genus is named after Italian botanist Peter A. Michel (1679-1737); the specific epithet after the Hindu name.Michelia champaca is an evergreen or semi-deciduous, small to medium-sized tree up to 50 m tall; bole straight, cylindrical, up to 200 cm in diameter, without buttresses; bark surface smooth, grey to greyish-white, inner bark fibrous, yellow to brown, crown conical to cylindrical. Leaves simple, entire, arranged spirally; stipules adnate to or free from the petiole. Flowers on short, axillary brachyblast, solitary or rarely in pairs, large, tepals 6-21, in 3-6 usually subequal whorls, white to yellow; stamens many, anthers with a short to prominently elongated connective; gynoecium stipitate, with spirally arranged, free or connate carpels containing many ovules. Fruiting carpels dehiscing along the dorsal suture when free or fused and forming a fleshy or woody syncarp. Seed hanging from its funicle.

 

Michelia champaka

The flowers are used in Southeast Asia for several purposes. They are primarily used for worship at temples whether at home or out, and more generally worn in hair by girls and women as a means of beauty ornament as well as a natural perfume. Flowers are used to be floated in bowls of water to scent the room, as a fragrant decoration for bridal beds, and for garlands.