8285.000 Gardenia J. Ellis

Description of the genus

Shrubs or trees, with branches often in threes and young parts often glutinous. Stipules sheathing, often truncate. Leaves opposite or 3-nate, with or without domatia. Flowers large, terminal or pseudoaxillary, solitary or in few-flowered fascicles, white, turning yellow to brown with age. Corolla tube funnel-shaped or cylindric; lobes 5-12. Ovary 1-locular with 2-9 parietal placentas. Fruit spherical or ellipsoid, usually with a thick fibrous or woody wall. Seeds numerous, fused into a pulpy solid mass.

Derivation of name: Named after Alexander Garden, a medical doctor from Aberdeen, who was one of Linnaeus' correspondents

Worldwide: c. 60 species in the tropical and warm Old World

Zimbabwe: 10 taxa.

Insects associated with this genus:
Menophra obtusata (Pale waved umber) Food plant
Omizodes ocellata (Ocellate thorn) Food plant
Gardenia volkensii subsp. spatulifolia

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
brachythamnus (K. Schum.) LaunertW
cornuta Hemsl.S?
imperialis K. Schum. subsp. imperialis [CR]EDescription, Image
posoquerioides S. Moore[VU]EDescription, Image
resiniflua Hiern subsp. resiniflua N,W,C,E,SDescription, Image
ternifolia Schumach. & Thonn. subsp. jovis-tonantis (Welw.) Verdc. var. jovis-tonantis (Welw. Aubrev.NImage
ternifolia Schumach. & Thonn. subsp. jovis-tonantis (Welw.) Verdc. var. goetzei (Stapf & Hutch.) Verdc.N,C,E,SDescription, Image
thunbergia Thunb.Image
volkensii K. Schum. subsp. spatulifolia (Stapf & Hutch.) Verdc.N,W,C,E,SImage
volkensii K. Schum. subsp. volkensii var. volkensii E,SDescription, Image

Other sources of information about Gardenia:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Gardenia
Flora of Caprivi: Gardenia
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Gardenia
Flora of Malawi: Gardenia
Flora of Mozambique: Gardenia
Flora of Zambia: Gardenia
Flora of Zimbabwe: cultivated Gardenia

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Gardenia
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Gardenia
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Gardenia
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Gardenia
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Gardenia
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Gardenia
JSTOR Plant Science: Gardenia
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Gardenia
Plants of the World Online: Gardenia
Tropicos: Gardenia
Wikipedia: Gardenia

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Gardenia.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=1380, retrieved 19 March 2024

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