Michelia
(named after Pietro Antonio Michele, 1679-1737, a celebrated Florentine botanist). ORD. Magnoliaceae. A genus comprising twelve species of stove evergreen trees, closely allied to Magnolia, natives of India and the islands of the Eastern Archipelago. Flowers axillary, solitary, or in one species terminal, usually smaller than in Magnolia. Michelias thrive in a compost of sandy loam and leaf mould. Propagated, in summer, by cuttings of half-ripened shoots, placed in sand, under a glass, in heat. M. Champaca (Champaca). fl. yellow, large, not unlike a double Narcissus, sweet-scented throughout the day, but becoming rather foetid at night; peduncles short, axillary, one-flowered; produced throughout the year. l. ovate-oblong, acuminated, acute at the base, with the ribs beneath, as well as the peduncles and spathes, silky. h. 30ft. to 40ft. India and Java, 1779. M. lanuginosa (woolly). fl. pale yellow. Spring. l. drooping, elliptic-lanceolate, acuminate, bright green above, paler beneath. Himalayas, 1865. (B. M. 6179.)