Both Michelia champaca and Michelia alba are beautiful plants. They both have very beautiful, almost transparent, apple green color leaves. They also have straight and majestic upright tree trunks.

Even though their leaves look alike, the M. champaca leaf has flat green color. It has very fine hairs both on top and bottom of the leaf. If we touch it, it feels like velvet.

The M. alba leaf is shiny, has glossy reflection. it does not have any fine hairs. If we touch it, it is very smooth.

Another very interesting difference. If you are allowed to crush their leaves, the M. champaca leaf has an ordinary grassy scent.

On the other hand, M. alba leaf has the distinct floral aroma, just like its flower. In fact, the leaves, the branches, and the roots of M. alba, all possess the same wonderful floral aroma.

Michelia champaca (Left), Michelia alba (Right)

Thanks for sharing. I bet they smell wonderful! My father grew M. champaca in a pot in the coastal East Bay for many years. It had such a beautiful fragrance. it must have been a cutting or a graft because it was always in bloom from the time he got it.

@noseometer,
Thank you for sharing. Coastal East Bay has the best weather in SF Bay Area.

My Michelia alba usually bloom from April to October, sometimes into November. I live at the far east side of East Bay of SF Bay Area, which is more of inland than coastal. It is hot and dry in summer.

Matt, it could have just been my perspective also that it was always in bloom, since I didn’t live in the area, so only saw it periodically.

I bought champaca and alba many years ago but lost the champaca when I was away and the irrigation failed. They don't like to dry out. The alba went into the ground and now it's a tree over 8 metres tall. It flowers irregularly, but often after it gets a big lot of water.

I've never replaced the champaca but have often thought about airlayering the alba. It's on my to do list (when I get around to it).

Hi @nosemeter,

The coastal East Bay has the best weather in SF Bay Area. It has a large water body, San Francisco Bay, surrounding the area. It really helps to buffer the extreme weather of the hot summer and the cold winter. The location is also perfect for staying away from the foggy San Francisco. It receives a lot of sunlight. Your observation is correct. Both M. champaca and M. alba enjoy this nice micro-climate with longer flowering season than my inland area. Thank you very much for sharing your observation.

My city is very hot and dry during Summer. For the last 2 months of this year, most of the days were above 90°F. In fact, more than half of those days were above 100°F.

To solve my problem to protect my champaca and alba, as well as other plants, I added about 10 micro-spray heads to my drip irrigation system. Each micro-spray head has a valve control. So, I can turn them on in summer and I turn them off in other seasons. The drip irrigation system has a water control timer. I set it to turn this particular zone on for 2 to 3 minutes for a few times in the afternoon. The micro-spray heads do not use a lot of water. But they provide quick supply of water to the canopies of the trees and the moisture to the general area. The water can cool down the temperature of the leaves too. It mimics the native tropical environment for the champaca and the alba.

Either champaca or alba are lovely plants. They both have their own beauty. They are also very expensive to replace if they die. It would be nice to have a few more of these wonderful plants around me. That got me started doing air-layering on my alba.

I would like to share a few photos of my air-layering of Magnolia alba done a few years ago.

Air layering Michelia alba.

The aluminum foil was removed to show the package. Coco coir was used as the medium.

The plant was potted with potting soil mixed with 20% of small pieces of tree bark. Watered the plant about every 4~7 days. The plant stayed inside the house for 4 weeks, under 12 hours of florescent light every day. Hand misted with water several times per day.

The plant was moved to outdoor in a shaded area first. Gradually moved it from the shaded area to a partial sun area in 2 weeks. This picture was taken 4 months later after the potting.

It is amazing to see the Michelia alba (Magnolia alba) branch has such wonderful design built-in to be able to transform itself into a new plant.

Michelia alba flowers seldom fertilize and mature into fruits and seeds outside its native tropical region, Java, Indonesia. Many years ago, I read an article written by an Indonesian. He mentioned that the flowers of Michelia alba fertilized and matured into fruits and seeds were common in his country. I hope any readers of this discussion group know the fact and confirm this. Thank you in advance.

Even though it is uncommon for us, but it does happen once in a while. I had two alba flowers fertilized and matured into fruits with seeds last year.

The skin color of the fruit case was green at first. It turned to brown color and hardened gradually. After about 2 months, it opened up and exposed the tiny fruit. The meat of the fruit was soft and in pink color with a very strong nice scent. The waxy and sticky meat could be removed easily to reveal a black and hard-shelled seed.

Michelia alba fruit in a net. The net was used to protect the fruit or seed from eaten by a bird. It also protected the fruit or seed from falling to ground.

After about two months, the fruit case opened up.

Michelia alba fruit still on the tree.

Michelia alba pink fruit.

Sizes of the Michelia alba fruits.

Michelia alba seeds without the pink meat.