White Cempaka Blooms

It was in July when I replaced a few palm oil trees with other types. White Cempaka or Michelia Alba is one of them. I was skeptical initially as I had a feeling that Mr Leong just wanted to clear his stock. I got two White Cempaka after being sold with the idea that the tree can give shade and produce white flowers ALL year round.

Since I like white flowering plants and don't mind nice fragrant, I thought why not give it a shot. I was not that familiar with the flower other than knowing it is not Kemboja or Frangipani. Many mistaken Kemboja as Cempaka. My mom calls my Kemboja the Cempaka tree and I have to correct her many times till today.

For the past 4 months, there was no flower, and the growth was pretty slow. I thought I was conned by Mr Leong until I saw the flowers blooming last weekend.

I went close to one of the the trees and saw some flowers. Yeah.. finally and they smell really good, although I had to stick my nose onto it. Mom came by just to look at the flowers and remembered collecting them when she was small.. "Oh...Inilah cempaka." Oh well.. Cempaka or Kemboja or Frangipani - They are all white and smells good. :)

The oil of White Cempaka is also called the essence of joy, claimed to be the world's most expensive perfume. http://www.mgonlinestore.com/JoyPerfumeTree/. I have no clue to that, but thought it was a good finding. It is also the city flower of Shanghai.