Our department knows this flowering tree well. In my first year, when a lecture began to drag, I would slip the teacher’s gaze and stare out of the classroom window. The green patch we call Swapnochottor, the dream courtyard, was a small relief. I have no idea how the leafy space between Chemistry and Biochemistry came to be called that, but the name matches exactly how the place feels.
My eyes always settled on the tree standing in the middle of it. A tall, broad tree with thousands of greenish, spear-shaped leaves, and peeping out between the leaves, yellow flowers. It is a lovely thing to look at, and even from a distance you can tell that the flowers have many petals. Whenever a teacher pointed out of the window at a tree, for a field trip or just as an example, it was this one, the swarnachapa, the golden champak.
A scent I have never found twice
From June to September the tree decks itself out in flowers. I have never come across a sweeter scent than that of these golden flowers. It is so beautiful that it is very hard to explain to anyone who has not smelt it; words really do not do it. That intense fragrance is why perfume and attar are made from the flowers in several countries. The flower’s name is linked to the famous perfume Joy, which is why the tree is sometimes called the joy perfume tree. The funny thing is that while the rest of us are spellbound by the flowers, the bumblebees seem to have found a way to resist. People say a bee never settles on a champak flower.
From Michelia to Magnolia
The scientific name is now Magnolia champaca, but I heard Michelia champaca from my teachers so often that the old name is the one that comes out, and I do not much feel like saying the new one. Still, even if the old name has the stronger pull for me, the new one will be easier for those who come after us: the tree belongs to the family Magnoliaceae, so the name now matches the family.
Swarnachapa is native to the Indomalayan region. It grows wild in India, China, Indonesia, Myanmar, Bhutan, Nepal, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand, and in our country in the hills of Chattogram. It is planted so widely that you can find it more or less everywhere. It can reach about 50 metres. It is not only tall but also a source of fine timber: its brown, chocolate-coloured wood is made into furniture, and the grain deserves the praise it gets.
The tree that must not be felled
The word praise reminds me of an older story. In parts of China and India the champak is held to be a very sacred tree, and in many places felling it is said to be forbidden. Buddhists there believe that a Buddha of the past attained enlightenment under this tree, and that the Buddha to come will attain it under the white champak. That white champak, Magnolia alba, is actually a hybrid of Magnolia champaca and Magnolia montana, and it is planted in many places in those countries for this reason.
Now for the boring part
Now for the boring part. You may go and look at something else for a while, but you must come back and start again from here; no skipping. The bark of the trunk contains alkaloids and other compounds such as liriodenine, magnoflorine and beta-sitosterol. Liriodenine turns up in the leaves and roots too, and the roots also contain champakin and micheliolide. The essential oil of the flowers contains linalool and similar compounds, which is where all that fragrance comes from.
As for what people do with it, in village medicine the bark has traditionally been used for fever, rheumatic pain, wounds and ulcers. The leaves are used for worms and stomach ache, and a preparation of the flowers and fruit for digestive trouble, especially for those whose stomachs rumble more than they would like. For headaches, the flowers are mixed with a little oil and rubbed on the forehead. The books also mention the fruit for skin conditions and the root for boils and the sting of burns.
It is fair to say that planting one of these familiar, many-talented trees beside the house would do some good. The bill has already passed in the court of my mind, so I will plant one some day.
The traditional uses described here are for information only. Consult a doctor before using any plant to treat an illness.
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