Cape jasmine
Scientific Name :
Gardenia jasminoides Ellis
Synonym(s) :
Varneria augusta L.
Local/Common name(s) :
Gandarajan, Cape jasmine
Family :
Rubiaceae
Habit :
Shrubs
Flowering/Fruiting Time :
August-May
Habitat :
Grown as garden plant
Endemic :
No
Status (IUCN) :
Distribution :
Native of East Asia
Nativity :
Exotic
Uses :
Ornamental
Description (Morphology) :
Bushy shrubs. Leaves opposite or ternately whorled, 8-12 x 4-6 cm, obovate or nearly lanceolate, shining, dark green, glabrous except the shortly tufted grandular axils of nerves, apex acute, base tapering into a short petiole; stipules connate, spathaceous. Flowers solitary, often double, terminal at the forks of branches or becoming lateral by displacement on single shoot; peduncle short. Calyx 5-6, ending in subulate teeth. Corolla white, turning to yellow, fragrant, tube stout, 2-2.5 cm long, broader upward, lobes obovate or oblanceolate, 2.5-3.5 cm long, very often double. Stamens 5, adnate to the tube. Berry orange, ellipsoid.