Champa is a well known flower, native to India. An evergreen tree, it flowers in summer and monsoon. The fruits appear in August.

The flowers grow singly in the axils of the leaf, are yellow in colour and strongly scented. In addition, the buds, young twigs, young petioles and young leaf blades are pale yellow velvet-hairy. There is another hybrid of pure-white colour that can also be found in Mumbai.

The fragrant flowers are used by women to decorate their hair. But the drying flower emits an unpleasant stench and is therefore not used in religious ceremonies. The flowers yield champaca oil used in perfumes. They also yield a yellow dye used for textiles.

The flowers are usually pollinated by beetles.

The bark has stimulant and diuretic properties. The root bark is purgative, while the juice of the leaves is used in colic and fever. The fruits are used as antispasmodic, stomachic and in renal diseases.

The extract of the leaves is known to be a poison to rice fungus, thus used to prevent it.

The wood is used for posts, boards, veneer and furniture.

The tree is grown near temples and is often seen in gardens because of its fragrant flowers. It can be easily grown by planting a stump or cutting and can be propagated by preparing saplings in a nursery and transplanting the older ones.