Rare Fragrant Flowers

[khabbab]

Add Psoralea pinnata in the list, a cousin of Sophora secundiflora but it is fast growing.

[M Farooq]

Add Psoralea pinnata in the list, a cousin of Sophora secundiflora but it is fast growing

Looks like a very beautiful tree. Looks like a conifer bearing flowers. Never came across this one.

[tweedle2009]

Khabbab, have u tried Psoralea pinnata ? It looks like a beautiful tree,worth trying.My sweet autumn clematis getting more n more fragrant.

[khabbab]

Khabbab, have u tried Psoralea pinnata ? It looks like a beautiful tree,worth trying.My sweet autumn clematis getting more n more fragrant.

Nopes. Not enough space. The only tree i will grow and that one in drum is p.tomentosa. If that fails, i will try rothmannia globosa in same drum. So one tree on my terrace only
Clematis, going good in my soil bed, very fast growing. Just did one layering in the soil and few cuttings in a pot. Will grow one on terrace and mother plant in soil bed.

[taariqq]

Yes Farooq!
Possible reasons your Artabotrys does not have a stronger scent. a) The scent of tropical plants is dependent on how humid the atmosphere is, especially at night. If you've got your hari champa in a place where there is strong breeze, you will barely smell it. It has to be kind of muggy and not so strong a breeze for the scent to permeate. b) and secondly and more importantly you've got the variety (if it is vine) that is not Thai. I can tell from the shape of the leaves. Your plant probably also has thorn-like structures as well. That is a dead giveaway of the local variety common in India/Pakistan This variety has lesser scent. And of course, if it is the tree variety, it has the least scent.

The one that you spoke of at Shalimar nurseries, go there after 6 pm or close to maghrib and you will 'feel' the scent from 10 feet away, at least. I am talking about Shalimar Gulshan. If they said 3000 for a specimen, that is cheap! They have the Thai variety at both Shalimar and Lalazar. The scent of Artabotrys is 'different kind' as compared to motia or raat ki rani. These scents hit you! Artabotrys does not hit you ... it permeates in the atmosphere in the most sophisticated manner. Once smelt and you will not forget it easily. And once you become aware of what kind of scent it is, at the slightest of hints of 'that' scent, you start looking around like a bird ... 'where is that coming from!' ... One visit to Shalimar and Hussain will show you where the plants are ... and you will be talking about it.

Funny thing, the Thai variety does not set seeds either, and so the only way to propagate is via air-layering, and that too is difficult for this plant. Shalimar nursery knows how to propagate this. Lalazar people tried with about 100 guttis ... no luck in 2 months so far!

Here is a pic of one of the samples I bought from Shalimar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15940008@N04/5880303178/ ... notice the broader and flashier leaves. Also, no thorns.
Unfortunately I did not realize that the twig was too green to be put into a very strong breeze area ... that did some damage and then when my mali tried to move it to the ground, I think we did some root damage as well ... that destroyed the plant.
Bought another sample from Lalazar and put it straight into the ground ... growing happily, mashaAllaah la qoowata illa billah. I have gone thru a few spoecimens of local variety, and so the plant growing now has practically cost me 12k!

Also, I found the following thread helpful in identifying Artabotrys.
http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/dead/ ... Read comments by Pieter Bekkers.
Also, Cananga odorata is the tree that goes to 60+ feet and is supposed to be strongly scented (some of the ingredients of Chanel No 5)
The dwarf variety is Cananga fruticosa and supposedly not as fragrant.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you buy your plants? I mean Artabotrys and Cananga. It seems like I am in the same boat as you are. Farhan from Diamond should be bringing some good plants back. I requested Michelias, both yellow and white, Stemmadenia, and hopefully Cananga odorata as well. Have you looked into Stemmadenia? Does anyone here have any experience with Stemmadenia?

[M Farooq]

Yes Farooq!
Possible reasons your Artabotrys does not have a stronger scent. a) The scent of tropical plants is dependent on how humid the atmosphere is, especially at night. If you've got your hari champa in a place where there is strong breeze, you will barely smell it. It has to be kind of muggy and not so strong a breeze for the scent to permeate. b) and secondly and more importantly you've got the variety (if it is vine) that is not Thai. I can tell from the shape of the leaves. Your plant probably also has thorn-like structures as well. That is a dead giveaway of the local variety common in India/Pakistan This variety has lesser scent. And of course, if it is the tree variety, it has the least scent.

This one in the photo was a local tree from Shalimar nursery or from Karachi University nursery. I purchased it many years ago.

The one that you spoke of at Shalimar nurseries, go there after 6 pm or close to maghrib and you will 'feel' the scent from 10 feet away, at least. I am talking about Shalimar Gulshan. If they said 3000 for a specimen, that is cheap! They have the Thai variety at both Shalimar and Lalazar. The scent of Artabotrys is 'different kind' as compared to motia or raat ki rani. These scents hit you! Artabotrys does not hit you...

Certainly motia and raat ki rani are South asian favourites. Fragrances are personal things. Certainly a westerner would find raat ki raani over powering. Some people do get sick of raat ki raani hady perfume. Yes, I smelled ylang ylang vine plucked flowers- they are really different.


it permeates in the atmosphere in the most sophisticated manner. Once smelt and you will not forget it easily. And once you become aware of what kind of scent it is, at the slightest of hints of 'that' scent, you start looking around like a bird ... 'where is that coming from!' ... One visit to Shalimar and Hussain will show you where the plants are ... and you will be talking about it.

I have seen them. I think this is true ylang ylang vine.


Here is a pic of one of the samples I bought from Shalimar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15940008@N04/5880303178/ ... notice the broader and flashier leaves. Also, no thorns.
Unfortunately I did not realize that the twig was too green to be put into a very strong breeze area ... that did some damage and then when my mali tried to move it to the ground, I think we did some root damage as well ... that destroyed the plant.
Bought another sample from Lalazar and put it straight into the ground ... growing happily, mashaAllaah la qoowata illa billah. I have gone thru a few spoecimens of local variety, and so the plant growing now has practically cost me 12k!

That is pretty expensive. Although Shalimar plants are expensive you will eventually find that they if the best quality. We always bought fruiting trees from them and the results were highly satisfying.


Also, I found the following thread helpful in identifying Artabotrys.
http://www.daleysfruit.com.au/forum/dead/ ... Read comments by Pieter Bekkers.
Also, Cananga odorata is the tree that goes to 60+ feet and is supposed to be strongly scented (some of the ingredients of Chanel No 5) The dwarf variety is Cananga fruticosa and supposedly not as fragrant.

I hope fruticosa has a good fragrance. It is a baby now but it is doing quite well.


If you don't mind me asking, where did you buy your plants? I mean Artabotrys and Cananga.

Cananga from Hussain. He does not have the true Cananga used in Chanel no. 5, but it is most likely fruticosa.


It seems like I am in the same boat as you are. Farhan from Diamond should be bringing some good plants back. I requested Michelias, both yellow and white, Stemmadenia, and hopefully Cananga odorata as well. Have you looked into Stemmadenia? Does anyone here have any experience with Stemmadenia?

Ask him to find Kewda as well. I want orange michelia becuase the white one was nothing but a disappointment. I would say Michelia alba has a mild smell of kaameeni flowers that too if you poke your nose into the flowers.

[aykhan]

I am trying to grow Stemmadenia from seed. Hope it works...

[super rehman nursery]

Welcome to the forum farooq. . Remember the vine form has more fragrant flowers than tree form. I hope you have vine form. Second, i spent quite a time on sniffing the flowers of this vine in super rehman nursery pattoki. Very old specimen with lots of green and yellow flowers. The fragrance is felt only when there are lots of yellow flowers and its best fregrance vine in all word and u can grow more plants with air layring in moon soon season in pakistan . This is my just experience. Some gardeners may feel otherwise.

[Muhammad Arif Khan]

I have the vine from Pattoki, It has not yet bloomed, I hope it is fragrant otherwise it will have the samefate as its tree bother.

[orchid]

Lilac is a bush with fragrant blossms, grows 4-5 feet. there is also a rebloomong variety that blooms twice a year, easy to grow.
orchid