Plant Profile: Artabotrys odoratissimus, A. hexapetalus

[M Farooq]

Botanical Name	Artabotrys odoratissimus
Family	Annonaceae
Genus
Specie
Local Name in Urdu	Naag champa, hara champa
Common Name	NA
Life Cycle	Evergreen
Cultivar Name	NA
Category(Bush/Vine/Tree)	Woody climber
Height	> 10 feet
Spacing	Grow accordingly, usually a solitary plant
Flowering Months	Through out the year
Flower Color	Green then yellow
Growing Areas	Tropical, will not tolerate cold
Frost Tender	yes
Exposure	Full sunlight
Soil pH	No issues known
Propagation	Seeds (extremely difficult,special acid treatment, air layering
Uses	Ornamental
Other Details	Artabotrys produces fragrant flowers in hot humid summers. The flowers open during the evening. Initially the green flowers have no fragrance but once they turn yellow, the emit fruity pineapple like aroma. There are two types of this plants, so be careful once you buy them. The local Pakistani plant is less fragrant. However the Thai variety is extremely fragrant during a humid evening. it is slightly difficult to differentiate between the two but ask the nursery person before buying it. The "tree" is a climber in the sense that it produces long branches which have hooks that help it to climb other trees. The tree belongs to the custard apple family. The pictures shown here are of the "highly fragrant" Artabotrys

[mikhurram]

i have the thai version but fragrance was very mild and i was quite disappointed. Even during the humid monsoon the scent is not strong enough to be smelled from a distance.

[mikhurram]

There are two types of Artabotrys available here in Pakistan. The most fragrant variety has relatively rounder leaves and the one having mild fragrance has longer leaves (like the image above) . A couple of years back i bought a similar variety shown above and the smell was very mild or barely noticeable even during the humid weather in August and i was quite disappointed. I would not recommend buying this variety shown above.

Hopefully i'll get hold of the variety having rounder leaves which supposedly is quite fragrant.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

I planted the tree years ago and was disappointed. (was not as fragrant as I expected) so it got uprooted. Now I have the rambler variety, it is its third year and hasn't yet bloomed, Hope it doesn't get kicked out.
A

[M Farooq]

There are two types of Artabotrys available here in Pakistan. The most fragrant variety has relatively rounder leaves and the one having mild fragrance has longer leaves (like the image above) . A couple of years back i bought a similar variety shown above and the smell was very mild or barely noticeable even during the humid weather in August and i was quite disappointed. I would not recommend buying this variety shown above.

Hopefully i'll get hold of the variety having rounder leaves which supposedly is quite fragrant.

Khurram sb, The pictures in the entry were shared by a forum member who vanished afterwards...he had purchased this plant from the Shalimar nursery in Karachi. I had smelled the same plant (the nurseryman was selling it at a hefty price). The flowers become fragrant in the evening. During the daytime there is no fragrance. The flowers smell like a freshly cut pineapple.

Unfortunately, the Artabotrys I have, has really mild rather disappointing fragrance i.e. it has no fragrance at all :-(

If you know other identifiable characteristics of fragrant vs. non-fragrant Artabotrys, please let us know.

BTW, has anyone grown Desmos chinensis...it looks very much like the Artabotrys plant however, the flowers smell like tea rose perfume.

[mikhurram]

Dr Farooq, i shall post the pictures of the supposedly fragrant variety having rounder leaves when i get hold of it. Someone has promised to give me a plant in a few months as the grower is currently propagating it.
The scent of the specimen shown above has a very mild fragrance is similar to that of a pineapple or an apple as pointed out by you and one has to sniff hard at the flower to experience its mild fragrance during daytime.

[M Farooq]

I think soon you will have the most fragrant tropical garden of Pakistan if not the world...from Kewra to heavily scented jasmines to fragrant Artabotrys....Good luck with your collections :-)

[Izhar]

Me and MirAfzal sb. went to shalimar nursery and the first picture and this below picture are taken from there, it was so fragrant that we felt the fragrance all around us.

[khabbab]

In lahore and patoki, i have seen only 2 types of Artabotrys. The tree one and the climber one. Tree one is less fragrant, less flower count and has one thick stem like a small tree. Climber is imported and gives more flowers and more fragrant. The above images are climbers. I believe both are different species. Climber is not a true climber but get more branches after reaching to 5 feet.

[M Farooq]

Dr. Khan sb, recently posted a beautiful picture of Artabotrys which has the legendary fragrance...as he mentions that it can be felt as far as 30 ft away.

Artabotrys.jpg (58.05 KiB) Viewed 6633 times

How can we identify, while buying this plant, that this is indeed the true legendary Artabotrys (naag champa in Karachi)? I have always been misled by the appearance of this plant. Could you please post the picture of the full plant so that we can see the growing habit of the this plant. Is it more vine like or tree like as Khabbab explains above. Note the picture posted by Izhar sb from Shalimar nursery looks different. I also saw this plant in Shalimar and the fragrance was like a pineapple fruit. He was selling it at a hefty price.

Thanks.