Botanical name: Magnolia coco      Family: Magnoliaceae (Magnolia family)

Native to China, magnolia coco is a wonderful plant which captures the beauty of magnolias (normally big trees) in a flower pot. The flowers are small and very fragrant. They usually last only a day and open in the evening, the tepals falling by morning. This species is a good houseplant, the most suitable magnolia for indoors, thanks to its small size and slow growth rate. Its long flowering period provides indoor fragrance and color about nine months of a year. Most of magnolias lack nectaries, but the Magnolia coco is a nice exception. It secrets a nectar-like substance at the base of the tepals and between the stigmas. Indoors it can be grown as a small house plant in a pot where it gets only 2-3 ft tall and blooms in young age. Fragrance is outstanding especially in early morning, and reminds one of champaka. This probably inspired its other names, Michelia coco and Michelia pumila. This is a true magnolia - the blooms are at the ends of the branches, rather than from the leaf axils as they are in the Michelia group.

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The flower labeled Dwarf Magnolia is ...