I am wondering was is the best fragrant Ylang Ylang with most controlable growth for a container to be brought in during the winter months. I have Artabotrys Hesapetallus (ylang ylang vine) but they are rather small yet. I am considering ordering another ylang but I need one that will bloom at a young age (impatient) and has that irresitable fragrance. What other Ylang should I consider?
I also have Michelia Champaca which might have been a mistake on my part. I bought this last year and it's a good sized plant but from what I am reading, they get rather large before blooming unlike the Michelia Alba. Can anyone give any other information.
Dott
Ylang Ylang and Michelia question
I have heard that the Desmos Chinensis (dwarf ylang) fragrance is not as good as Cananga Odorata. Ive even heard some say they were disapointed in it. I only have Cananga Odorata so I can't say but my thinking is if your gonna do it do it all the way. I bring mine in for cold weather but it is still small when it gets larger I'll have to figure something else out.
Hi Dott, there is a dwarf version of Cananga odorata that flowers on plants only about 2 feet tall and eventually gets to about 8 feet or so high. It is called Cananga odorata var. fruticosa. The flowers look very similar to the species plant and it is said to be as fragrant.
www.toptropicals.com/cgi-bin/garden_catalog/cat.cgi?uid=Cananga_fruticosa&sale=1
Matt,
How is Cananga odorata var. fruticosa diffrent than Desmos Chinensis? Is it the same plant diffrent name or is it all togeather diffrent. Both are dwarf Ylang on a Google search? These things can be so confusing!
Thanks
Caren
Caren,
It's always confusing when searching for plants using their common, as opposed to their latin name, as so often different species share the same one.
So, generally speaking if a search is made for a plant using its common name and the result shows several different species names, this doesn't mean that all these plants are the same, it only means that these different species share the same common name.
Desmos is a separate genus to Cananga, although they are both in the family Annonaceae and so are related. Desmos chinensis is found in China (chinensis meaning 'of China'); Cananga is found in Indonesia, Malaysia and tropical northern Australia.
The flowers of Desmos look more like those of the related Artabotrys than Cananga. The fruits are different too; Desmos having fruits that look like strings of red beads, whereas the Cananga has its fruits in a cluster. See pics:
http://www.hku.hk/ecology/porcupine/por29gif/desmos-fr.jpg
http://www.tropilab.com/ylangylang.html
Hope this helps,
Matt
This message was edited Jan 28, 2006 11:34 PM
Thank you very much for the information.
Matt, The dwarf you posted in the first link is the one I am looking to purchase but just needed some kind of confirmation that it too is as fragrant as the original Cananga. The advertiser's do make this all confusing and I haven't had much time lately to do searches and read more information. Time to get those spring orders ready.
Dott
Hi Dott, I haven't smelled the flowers for myself so I can't give you first hand experience, but the sites advertising the plants for sale, seem to say that it is the same, in everything but size, as the ordinary species. Wish you success with it anyway.
Matt
Matt,
Do you know if the fragrance of Desmos is the same or simlar to Cananga?
Caren,
I don't know if it's the same unfortunately, - I'm still waiting on my plants to flower. I understand the scent is meant to be very powerful and pleasant though.
Artabotrys hexapetalus is another member of the same family and is commonly called Climbing Ylang Ylang. Apparently just one flower of this will fill a large room with a powerful fragrance and even after the flower has been dried, this is retained for some time.
I should think there must be some similarity in fragrance, for these different species to all have Ylang Ylang in their common names.
Matt
Magnolia (was Michelia) Champaca (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/michelia_champaca.htm) - yellow-orange flowers. Smells like Frutty Bubble gum.
Magnolia (Michelia) x Alba (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/michelia_alba.htm) - white flowers. Sweet smell. Can be smelled farther away than yellow champaca. Trees are either airlayered or grafted (it's a seedless hybrid), so it blooms even in one gal pot, unlike orange michelia. Also, it's much more reliable bloomer. And yes, one flower can fill the whole room with fragrance (see caution below)
Caution. As with any other tropical fragrant plant remember that flowers are fragrant when hot and humid. Don't complain about no fragrance in A/C cooled room with temperature of 72F. Don't complain about ylang-ylang not being fragrant in morning. It's a night-time bloomer
Magnolia sp. "Golden Alba" (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/magnolia_golden.htm) - very sweet and strong fragrance. It's grafted, so it blooms right away. Individual flower fragrance is stronger than Magnolia Alba.
Magnolia Coco (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/magnolia_coco.htm) - flower size of pigeon egg, never fully open, last one day, so don't miss it. Very strong sweet fragrance, somewhat similar to coconut smell (so it's the name).
Annonaceae. They are fragrant only when hot and humid, during evening and night hours. Don't smell them for lunch
Cananga Odorata, "Ylang-Ylang" (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/cananga_odorata.htm) - smells like perfume. You can buy ylang-ylang essential oil on the internet to get an idea about fragrance. This is the most fragrant plant of its kind. While each individual flower has about the same "power" as dwarf cananga, the tree has thousands of them. You can smell 30-40 ft tall tree 20-50 ft away. The problem is that it grows large and won't bloom until 8-10 ft tall
Cananga Fruticosa, "Dwarf ylang-ylang" (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/cananga_fruticosa.htm) - similar fragrance to c. odorata (with little bit more spice). While you can't smell it 25 ft away, 4-5 ft tall plant in pot looks very nice and bushy and covered with flowers.
Artabotrys hexapetalus (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/artabotrys_hexapetalus.htm) - it's vine. If you live where you can grow it in ground, then it can be a huge vine. Or it can be trimmed as shrub. Sweet scented flowers. Very fragrant, but plant doesn't have them by thousand as cananga odorata. Flowers are "open type", that's how one can tell the difference between a. hexapetalus and a. siamensis. Fragrant only during hot humid nights. They're blooming right now in S. Florida without any traces of fragrance. Called Bhandari vine in India
A. siamensis ( http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/artabotrys_siamensis.htm). SImilar to above with different shape of flowers and more lemon-type smell. Called hara-champa in Thailand (everything fragrant is called champa)
Desmos chinensis (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/desmos_chinensis.htm) and Desmos praecox (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/desmos_praecox.htm) - can be a huge vine (we've seen them in Thailand) or shrub if trimmed. Very sweet lemon+sugar fragrance. Not many flowers, though, but plant is very nice, less "woody" then artabotrys. D. praecox has wide, curly petails
There are other fragrant "ylang-ylang" plants
Goniothalamus - http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/goniothalamus_sp.htm. Similar to desmos.
Melodorum (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/melodorum_fruticosum.htm) - sweet smell
Rauwenhoffia (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/rauwenhoffia_siamensis.htm) - sweet smell
Mitrephora (http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/mitrephora_alba.htm, http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/mitrephora_vandaeflora.htm, http://toptropicals.com/catalog/uid/mitrephora_winitii.htm) - we have plants, but they haven't bloomed yet, so I have no idea about fragrance. It would be nice to have fragrant M. winitii red-white flower (http://www.dnp.go.th/Botany/plant%20of%20the%20month/images/Mitrephora_winitii.jpg) with smell
Dott,
I just ordered a Cananga Fruticosa - dwarf, it left FL on Tuesday and it should be here on Thursday. I will let everyone know how it does.
Shirley
I have both the Cananga odorata var fruticosa and the regular Cananga odorata and the Desmos chinensis as well as a number of the Michelias. My regular Cananga odorata hasn't flowered for me yet, but it is only about three or four years old and has a way to go yet before it is mature enough to flower. My C. odorata var fruticosa and my Desmos chinensis have both flowered for me a number of times under varying conditions, and in fact, my C. odorata var. fruticosa is flowering right now in a very warm, very humid greenhouse. The whole plant has a musky fruity smell, but the flowers are no different than the leaves. I am not impressed with the dwarf's or with the Desmos chinensis's flowers and am holding out hope that the regular Cananga's flowers smell better. I got my regular Cananga from TopTropicals, and my dwarf Cananga from Natural Selections and my Desmos chinensis from Gardino's.
Dott, I forgot to mention that Michelia champaca is usually grown from seed and doesn't flower until it reaches 4-5 years old and/or 10-12 feet tall. I had two, but I gave one away. My first one flowered when it was around eight feet tall. You are right that the Michelia x alba blooms when much smaller because it is created by either grafting or air-layering a flowering tree as Mikluha said. The two flowers have very different fragrances in my opinion. The yellow Michelia champaca has a very strong, spicy incense-type smell and is enjoyed best from a few feet away from the flower. I made the mistake of sticking my nose right into the flower and was repelled, and it took a while before I could appreciate the fragrance again. It is not sweet, but it is interesting and different. The Michelia x alba, on the other hand, is very sweet and smells wonderful, and you can put your nose in that one comfortably.
