Gardenia thunbergia

Gardenia thunbergia, the forest gardenia or boskatjiepiering in Afrikaans, is a small evergreen tree or shrub growing to heights from 2 m to 5 m (SA Tree List No. 692).

The flowers of G. thunbergia are big, white or creamy white, eye-catching and strongly fragrant, especially when in full bloom and more so at night. The flower tube is long with a broad and spreading eight-lobed corolla and eight anthers showing at the top of it. Flowering occurs from October to March.

The fruit is ovoid or egg-shaped, up to about 10 cm long, grey-green with scattered raised white spots over its surface and a dense fibrous base inside that holds the seeds. It stays on the plant for a long time and can usually be found there all year round.

The species distribution is in a broad coastal swathe in the southeast of South African, in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, as well as in tropical Africa.

The habitat is forests, coastal thicket and wooded areas. The species is not considered to be threatened in its habitat early in the twenty first century (Coates Palgrave, 2002; Wikipedia; www.plantzafrica.com; http://redlist.sanbi.org).