Michelia champaca Seeds | Champak
LATIN NAME: Michelia champaca
COMMON NAME: Champak
Plant Profile
A distinctive member of its genus, Champak (Michelia champaca) is a handsome, evergreen tree in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae), native to warm forests of the southern Asia, while it is grown for its fragrant flowers. Champak is a handsome, evergreen tree of warm forests, and its large, glossy leaves and its intensely fragrant, golden-yellow flowers have made it one of the most treasured of the fragrant trees of the region. Mature plants top out at about Thirty metres. Its open flowers are a reliable stop for bees and other pollinating visitors. For the gardener, the sum of these traits is a plant that is easy to live with.
Science & Biotechnology
Like other members of the magnolia family, Michelia champaca draws steady attention from botanists and plant breeders, who value the genus both as a subject of research and as a source of garden-worthy material. Champak has a real and distinguished place in the research. For researchers, plants like this one offer practical material for propagation studies and selection work.
Uses & Benefits
Beyond its ornamental appeal, Champak has the practical versatility that makes a plant worth growing from seed year after year. Ecologically, champak is a generous tree of the garden. Its intensely fragrant, golden-yellow flowers feed bees and many insects, and its large, glossy, evergreen crown gives a fine, dense shade and a cover to birds through the year. It is a tree of treasured, fragrant kind. In later seasons it demands little more than an appreciative eye.
Michelia flowers are among the most fragrant in existence, perfuming temples and yielding absolute for fine perfumery; in southern Asia the flowers and bark have folk medicinal records.
Growing from Seed
Seed is the natural starting point for Champak, and the process is uncomplicated. Use a loose, well-drained seed compost, sow evenly over the surface and cover lightly, and keep everything evenly moist in bright light. When the young plants are big enough to handle, space them into pots or a nursery row and let them size up before their final move.
Our Take
Champak repays a little patience at sowing time with plenty of garden presence later.
Related Reading
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