Magnolia champaca champaca

The most widely revered of the tropical magnolias due to the fragrance of the delicate orange-yellow flowers, which are borne among the leaf axils sporadically throughout the year, but most often in summer and winter. The axillary position of the 2–3 inch flowers means you have to look carefully within the foliage for them; it is also a hint that the species is in section Michelia (see M. doltsopa). An essential oil extracted from the blossoms is used in perfumery. The leaves are about 9 inches long and a cheerful light green with paler undersides. See a small tree northeast of the Kingscote Gardens building, at the north end of the narrow lawn. A vigorous specimen is at 678 Chimalus Drive in Palo Alto.

Campus also has the white champaca, a white-flowered hybrid with M. montana from western Malesia, appropriately named M. × alba. A large specimen, planted in 2002, is on the lawn at the southwest corner of Encina Hall; its perfume reaches the nostrils of passers-by before they notice the flowers.

Several past plantings of champaca have not succeeded: One behind the Bookstore was moved from behind Memorial Church in 2005 to make way for the camellia plantings. Others were planted at the east end of Sequoia Hall (2002) and in a small lawn on Lomita Mall near Panama Mall and Mitchell Earth Sciences (2003). A white champaca stood at the southwest corner of the Law School.