Gardenia

Named after a ‘Garden’.

• Gardenia are small evergreen trees or shrubs, and grow between 1-15 meters (3.3-49 feet) tall.
• 142 species have been discovered in the gardenia family.
• Gardenia are native to Africa, Australasia and Oceania tropics.
• Gardenias belong to the coffee plant family, ‘Rubiaceae’.
• Gardenia flowers have a strong, pretty, sweet smell.

• The gardenia flower is the national flower of Pakistan.
• The gardenia was named after Dr Alexander Garden, a famous botanist, who was also a zoologist and physician.
• The fruit of the gardenia is sometimes used in Chinese medicine.
• If water touches gardenia flowers, the flowers will turn a coffee coloured brown.
• Flowers of the gardenia are typically white or pale yellow.

Bibliography:
Gardenia 13 November 2012, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardenia>