Fragrant Flowers

Common name: Champa, Joy Perfume Tree • Hindi: चम्पा Champa • Manipuri: লৈহাও Leihao • Marathi: Son Champa • Tamil: Sambagan • Telugu: Champangi • Kannada: Sampige • Bengali: চম্পা Champa • Oriya: Chompa • Konkani: Pudchampo • Urdu: Champa چمپا • Assamese: Tita-sopa • Sanskrit: Champaka Botanical name: Magnolia champaca    Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family) Synonyms: Michelia champaca Champa is native to Indonesia, India and other neighbouring areas. It occurs naturally in the eastern Himalayan region. It is a large evergreen tree with a long straight bole of 18-21 m with a close tapering crown composed of ascending branches. The most interesting part of the tree are its flowers which are not very showy with few narrow yellowish white petals, but have an extremely heady fragrance. This fragrance has made Champa flowers very popular and they have been part of the culture in India from time immemorial. They are used in religeous offering in various parts of India. On a warm humid night, the scents can easily be enjoyed several hundred feet away. Champa flowers are used to make the world's most expensive perfume 'Joy' in America.   Common name: Joy Perfume Tree, Champa चम्पा (Hindi), Leihao (Manipuri), Sambagan (Tamil), Sampige (Kannada), Sachochampo (Gujarati), Tita-sopa (Assamese), Pivaluchampa (Marathi), Champa (Bengali), Champakah (Sanskrit), Pudchampo (Konkani) Botanical name: Magnolia champaca    Family: Magnoliaceae (magnolia family) Synonyms: Michelia champaca This variety of Champa produces golden yellow flowers. Champa is native to Indonesia, India and other neighbouring areas. It occurs naturally in the eastern Himalayan region. It is a large evergreen tree with a long straight bole of 18-21 m with a close tapering crown composed of ascending branches. The most interesting part of the tree are its flowers which have an extremely heady fragrance. This fragrance has made Champa flowers very popular and they have been part of the culture in India from time immemorial. They are used in religeous offering in various parts of India. On a warm humid night, the scents can easily be enjoyed several hundred feet away. Champa flowers are used to make the world's most expensive perfume 'Joy' in America.        Common name: Magnolia, Southern magnolia • Hindi: हिम चम्पा Him champa • Manipuri: ঊথম্বাল Oothambal Botanical name: Magnolia grandiflora     Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family) Magnolia, a native of the southeastern US, is one of the most magnificent of the fragrant trees. It's trunk is typically straight and erect with spreading branches that form a dense, broadly pyramidal crown. It has large, thick, leathery dark green leaves which are up to 10 inches long. In the spring, they have a golden to rust color on their undersides. The large evergreen trees may grow to 90 ft tall, and the fragrant white blossoms that have smooth, almost velvet-looking petals, are 8-12 inches across. The snow white flowers are huge, and cup-shaped when young. The fruits are reddish-brown conelike structures, 2-4 in long, with bright red kidney shaped seeds that hang from little threads when fully mature in autumn. In the US, the magnolia is used as a street tree, a free standing specimen, a framing tree, or shade tree. In most parts of India, magnolias are grown only in select well-maintained gardens. In Manipur, magnolias are commonly grown - the Manipuri name ootahmbal means "tree lotus" - flowers are used as offering in puja.         Common name: Dwarf Magnolia, Cempaka Telur, Cempaka Gondok, Coconut Magnolia Botanical name: Magnolia coco      Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family) Native to China, magnolia coco is a wonderful plant which captures the beauty of magnolias (normally big trees) in a flower pot. The flowers are small and very fragrant. They usually last only a day and open in the evening, the tepals falling by morning. This species is a good houseplant, the most suitable magnolia for indoors, thanks to its small size and slow growth rate. Its long flowering period provides indoor fragrance and color about nine months of a year. Most of magnolias lack nectaries, but the Magnolia coco is a nice exception. It secrets a nectar-like substance at the base of the tepals and between the stigmas. Indoors it can be grown as a small house plant in a pot where it gets only 2-3 ft tall and blooms in young age. Fragrance is outstanding especially in early morning, and reminds one of champaka. This probably inspired its other names, Michelia coco and Michelia pumila. This is a true magnolia - the blooms are at the ends of the branches, rather than from the leaf axils as they are in the Michelia group.          Common name: Ylang Ylang Vine, Climbing lang-lang, Tail grape, Ilang-ilang • Hindi: Hari champa हरी चम्पा, Madanmast मदनमस्त, Manorangini मनोरंगिनी • Manipuri: চীনী চম্প্ৰা Chini champra • Oriya: Kalomuro • Bengali: Kanthalichampa কাঁঠালী চাঁপা • Kannada: Manoranjanihu balli • Marathi: हिरवा चाफा Hirva chapha • Tamil: மனோரஞ்ஜிதம்Manoranjitham Botanical name: Artabotrys hexapetalus      Family: Annonaceae (sugar apple family) Synonyms: Annona hexapetala, Artabotrys odoratissimus Also known by its common name in India as "Manorangini", Hari Champa has absolutely intoxicating fragrance! This species is native to India and tropical Asia. A medium size climbing shrub 8-10 ft, producing flowers that are greenish in color and fade to yellow with age, and are extremely fragrant. Once picked they are very long lasting and hold their scent for days, if kept in water, permeating an entire room. Flowers have three outer and three inner greenish yellow petals - hence the name hexapetalus. It is a fruity sweet smell - the Manipuri name Chini Champra, meaning sugar lemon, is indicative of that. Narrowly elliptical leaves, 6-15 cm long, 2-4.5 cm wide, are usually 3-4 times as long as wide, acute or almost so at base, short-acuminate at the tip, not glossy. Lateral veins are 8-16 pairs. Fruits are 3-4 cm long when ripe, ovoid and smooth. When young, this climber grows just like a regular shrub but at 5-6 ft, will start to vine. It is not an aggressive vine.         Common name: Ylang Ylang • Marathi: Chape • Tamil: க்ட்டு சம்பகம் Kattu chempakam • Telugu: Apurva champakame, Chettu sampangi • Kannada: ಅಪೂರ್ವ ಚಮ್ಪಕ Apurva champaka Botanical name: Cananga odorata    Family: Annonaceae (Sugar-apple family) Synonyms: Uvaria odorata The ylang-ylang (pronounced ee-lang ee-lang) is a large tree, to 10-15 m tall, which produces highly fragrant flowers. It is native to Indo-Malaysia. Leaves are dark green, up to 20 cm (8 in) in length, alternate, simple, entire, elliptic-oblong, slightly pubescent, and with a prominent midrib and drip tip. It flowers throughout the year in axillary, umbellate hanging clusters of 4–12 flowers.The flower has three sepals and six petals up to 8 cm long. The petals are twisted when young, then limp and drooping when mature. Flowers are very fragrant, greenish yellow at first, then turning a deep yellow/yellow brown when mature. The essential oil of the flower is obtained through steam distillation of the flowers and separated into different grades according to when the distillates are obtained.