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Magnolia x Alba, Michelia x Alba
Family: Magnoliaceae
White Champak, Pak-Lan, Banana Shrub, Cempaka Putih, Bai Yu Lan ( white-jade flower), Bai Yu Lan, Safa,
Origin: Southeast Asia
small tree 10-20 ft full sun regular water white/off-white flowers fragrant attracts butterflies, hummingbirds subtropical, cold hardy at least to 30s F for a short time incuded in CD catalog
This is hybrid between Michelia Champaca and Magnolia Montana with sweet strong fragrance of flowers resembles juicyfruit gum. The fragrance is released in the early morning hours and lasts all day long, especially strong at night. Its name honors Florentine botanist Pietro Antonio Micheli. Michelia alba is now cultivated for ornamental purposes in most tropical and lower subtropical countries. This tallish, evergreen tree has creamy white blooms with 15-20 sepals, and petals which are deliciously fragrant. The flowers are highly prized by people and are often made into necklaces. Both the flowers and leaves are highly aromatic and can be used in fragrance production. The flowers from Michelia champaca are used to make the world's most expensive perfume'Joy'. People did not invent JOY perfume, Nature made this creation leading to the development of JOY, the most expensive perfume fragrance in the world. Michelia flowers produce in great quantities. On a warm humid night, the scents can easily be enjoyed several hundred feet away. If you drive near by, you will notice the scent immediately. People and every insect you can imagine are attracted to the blooms. These are flowers you don't have to "stick your nose in" as the scent exudes from the tree. However, you really can't STOP sticking your nose into a flower over and over again. Nectar insects appear frantic, driven like drug addicts, bashing into each other to get to the heart of every flower on the tree. The white Michelia flower is also the city flower of Shanghai, China. Planting a Michelia tree either indoors as bonsai or in your backyard really makes your home a sweet home. Also you could take the flower, home made natural perfume, into car, office, rest room, and anywhere you want fragrant atmosphere. One oriental custom is to use the white flowers as sweet scented decoration, such as hair-pin-flower for girls, and chest-pin-flower for ladies. The tree has flowers and green leaves all year round, beautifying its surroundings. Besides, the clearly veined leaf can be made into a special bookmark.
Michelia alba has good antimicrobial properties, especially the leaves. It also has an antioxidant character with moderate effect.
See Article about Tropical Magnolias.
See also Plants with scents as heady as incense: Enchanted Magnolias - Joy in your life...

Link to this plant: http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/michelia_alba.htm

Magnolia x Alba, Michelia x Alba, White Champak, Pak-Lan, Banana Shrub, Cempaka Putih, Bai Yu Lan ( white-jade flower), Bai Yu Lan, Safa,

This grafted tree blooms in 3 gal container

Blooming tree in 7 gal pot

2 y.o. tree blooming profusely in 7 gal pot

Name	Comments
Name:Buck Shaw Email:buck6@pacbell.net Location:Redwood City,Ca. Homepage: Zone:? 13 Aug 2004, 1:10 AM	Has any one seen fruiting bodies on Michelia alba? Not the regular little left over flower seed but an Olive size green fruit that looks like an immature walnut ? Comments Please?
Name:Richard B.Figlar Email:magnolia@magnoliaceae.or Location:Pickens, SC, USA Homepage:www.magnoliasociety.org Zone:8 18 Aug 2004, 3:05 PM	You might be interested to know that Michelia is now part of Magnolia, thus, Magnolia champaca and, of course, Magnolia x alba, would be the lastest names for these species. I grow many of the sister species of these outdoors, including Magnolia maudiae, M. foveolata, M. dianica, and many more. Nice site. Thanks. Dick Figlar President Magnolia Society Int'l.
Name:Yasmin Email:snghe@pacific.net.sg Location:Singapore Homepage: Zone:war 3 Mar 2005, 2:25 AM	My plant stopped flowering a couple of days after it was delivered to us. Can anyone "teach" us what to do to make it flower again? Also, why do the leaves keep yellowing; and also why do the leaves drop off so easily even when they are still green? Thanks, Yasmin
Name:Joe Kimpel Email:kimpel60@aol.com Location:Orlando, FL Homepage: Zone:9 27 Apr 2005, 8:59 AM	I have a Michelia Alba growing in the back yard here in Orlando FL. Just wanted everyone to know that these beautiful, highly perfumed trees do well here in the Central Florida area. It made it thru the winter just fine and is lush green and full of blooms. This tree is a must for the tropical tree lover. It is one of my favorites!
Name:Veacha Yang Email:veacha_yang@yahoo.com Location:philadelphia, pa, USA Homepage: Zone: 16 Feb 2006, 12:34 AM	I bought so many michelia alba over years and each time when winter comes and i have to bring it inside, they always seem to lose their leaves and in a few weeks will die. Is this due to water releasing too fast from the plant? If so, how can i prevent it from doing this and to keep it alive for the next warmer weather?
Name:Alan Tung Email:Alantungstudio@aol.com Location:CA Homepage: Zone:9 24 Jul 2006, 4:27 AM	Hi everyone. I love michelia Alba, it reminds me of my childhood back in Taiwan. but I've tried to find michelia alba in Southern California and no one has it. I heard the Michelia figo and champaca smells great but still can't compare with michelia alba? is it true? also does anyone know anyone sales michelia alba or on this website? I tried to find it but can't. only thing I saw close was this one. could this one be the michelia alba I am looking for? please share your advise. thanks :-) Alan
Name:Linda Smith Email:linda@yahoo.com Location:Texas USA Homepage:None Zone:7 10 Oct 2006, 5:29 PM	Yasmin, I have one Michelia x Alba at home and I water it with "Americal Grow Super Bloom" or "Americal grow Bloom Booster" every two weeks to keep it blooming. Veacha, when I bring my Michelia x albe inside the house for the Winter time I put it infront of the window and I alway have the window mini blind oepned to let sun light in because it needs a lot of sun light to stay alive and did just fine. Alan, I thought the Michelia x Alba and the Champaca are the same; are they different? Thank, Linda
Name:Nathan Email:Nathan@yahoo.com Location: Homepage: Zone: 30 Mar 2007, 3:02 PM	Veacha and Yasmin, Yes, you need to put you Michelia Alba near the open window with slight breeze (not wind blowing hard at it) or else you might not have any blooms. Feed your potted plant once a month with bone marrow food, and grounded yellow bean or mung bean. My suggestion to you is you rather under feed it then over feed it because it is much easier to salvage the damage plant that has been under feed then over feed which has very slim chance. For Veacha leave issue- don't over water your plant because if your plant has yellow leave and starts to fall off that means there is a chance your plant's root system is starting to rot due to poor drainage system. Only water your plant once every two week. Water-I mean really fill your pot up and wait it drain all the way out and soak it again and let it fully drain. You must have a very well drained pot, and soil composition. Place your pot at a slightly slope surface to make sure water does not sit at the bottom of your pot. =) Nathan __________________________________________________ Linda, Michelia Alba and Michelia Champaca are related but they are not the same. Michelia Alba produce white super fragrant flower which is much more desire by every grower. On the other hand the Michelia Champaca produce lesser desirable yellow not as fragrant flower as the Michelia Alba but is much more hardier plant compare to the Alba. And when grower refer to Michelia they are always refering to the Michelia Alba unless specified. To identify whether the plant is the Alba or Champaca without looking at the flower just feel their leave. The Champaca has a fury feeling while the Alba don't. Also the Alba leave have a better fragrant then the Champaca when you crush it with you finger. (FYI)-In Asia huge Alba leaves are used to wrap food to steam to add fragrance aroma to the food. =) Nathan __________________________________________________ Alan, What part of S California do you leave in? Because if you are in LA then you will have no problem attaining you Michelia Alba. Just go to any Asian nurseries around San Gabriel and you will see your plant. My advice to you is to get at least the 5gal and up if you are planning to purchase one. All of the Michelia Alba being sold are grafted from a huge (mother tree), therefore, the bigger branch which tend to be more mature which have a higher chance of survival into a mature tree after being grafted is put in bigger pot. Warning do not place your pot where there is a lot of wind because the root system is not mature enough to handle the swaying of the wind. Wind can easily kill a newly grafted plant due to unfully developed root system. =) Nathan
Name:chuck reynolds reynolds6511@sbcglobal.net Email: Location:danbury, brazoria co. texas Homepage: Zone:9b 27 Aug 2008, 10:25 PM	i purchased a 3'-4' alba from top tropicals 5 months ago. planted in the ground and now have four bloom buds. even the bloom buds are fragrant.we will purchase another one for the backyard. our favorite plant.
Name:Peg Email:pond-erings@comcast.net Location:Loveland CO, USA Homepage: Zone:5 20 Oct 2008, 7:34 AM	I bought this plant from Top Tropicals this past Spring 2008,and am very pleased with it so far. As you can see, I live in a cold climate (zone 5), therefore I knew in advance that I would have to overwinter this inside. Since I grow Orchids as a hobby also, and alwasy have to bring those inside every winter, I figured this too would be worth the extra effort. When my plant arrived, I followed their planting instructions closely, putting it in a pot not much bigger than it's root ball, and mixing some Orchid Bark into the soil to aid in the needed drainage, and just waited for it to come out of it's shock and take off, which only took about a month. I kept this plant outside all summer in an area that had bright light all day and direct full on sun for aprox. 2-3 hours each day. Also, since we typically have very low humidity here, I rigged up one of those Misting systems on an automatic timer so it came on and gave it a short (1-3 minutes)light spritz of moisture every two hours 24/7. Watered it with a High Bloom formula fertilizer about once every 4-5 days. It eventually started to come out of it's transplant/travel shock and started to produce new leaves constantly and really take off nicely. I now have it inside the house as our nighttime lows started dipping down into the 40's about a month ago. I have it in an area where it will get lots of bright light throughout most of the winter months via an overhead skylight window. Since this area is in an enclosed heated porch, I can also have the Misting System that it seemed to like so well, set to give it a short mist once every hour. And I am continuing to water it with the High Bloom formula, but allowing it to dry out just a bit in between waterings. It now has several blooms on it, which I am thrilled about!!!!! So we'll see how it does through the rest of the winter. Hopefully I will be moving a still healthy plant back outside next Spring!!!! My only concern at this point in time, is about what height it will get before then!! Since in it's ideal climate this thing is a tree, I do have some trepedation about that. I'm not sure if I can safely cut it back at the top if it starts to get too tall or not, I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I hope this information helps someone else in a colder climate who would like to try this plant.
Name:Amie Email:jack_amie@hotmail.com Location:Seattle, WA Homepage: Zone:4 10 Dec 2008, 11:12 AM	I have a Michelia Alba for about four years potted inside the house. The leaves drops on & off but, I just notice my plant is dropping all it's leaves. I think I over watered it and now the root must be rotting. How do I salvage my plant? I realy love this plant. This is my favorite plant. Some great advice would be appreciative. Amie
Name:NATHAN Email:NATHAN8O8@YAHOO.COM Location: Homepage: Zone: 16 Dec 2008, 12:32 PM	Ami, The only thing you can do now is not water your plant for a while until the container is very light. Also tip your pot slightly at an angle so that the water won't sit in the pot by putting small pieces of bark or pebbles on one end of the pot. Hopefully, new root will generate. Keep an eye on the green part of your plant to see if it starts to change color to brown. If it does, then your plants is in the process of dying and the brown color will start to run toward the main branch. Hopefully, it will stop before reaching the main branch. If you see new budds from the main branch that means you successfully salvage your plant. You might want to water your plant only once every two week during winter. You want to fill your pot with water all the way to the top and let it drains all the way when watering. In pot, do not over fertilize it because it is very difficult to salvage. Do not put your plant in place where there are a lot of draft. This plant does not like wind when it is not mature. Good Luck!!!!

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3157 Magnolia (Michelia) x Alba grafted
HOT SALE!White champaka - these grafted plants start blooming right away! The white flowers of this variety have more delicate fragrance than regular yellow Champaca, and the Alba variety is more reliable bloomer. Flowers are used for making the most expensive perfume Joy.

1-3 gal pot, large trees

In stock

39.95
Sale: 24.95

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