CHAP, v.] THE GENUS GARDENIA. 89 



THE GENUS GARDENIA AND ITS ALLIES. 



The Cape Jasmine {Gardenia radicans) is a 

 well-known greenhouse plant, remarkable for the 

 heavy fragrance of its large white flowers, which 

 (lie off a pale yellow, or buff. The calyx has 

 a ribbed tube, and the limb is parted into 

 long awl-shaped segments. The corolla is 

 salver-shaped, that is, it has a long tube and a 

 spreading limb, the limb being twisted in the 

 bud. There are from five to nine anthers, 

 having very short filaments which are inserted in 

 the throat of the corolla. The stigma is divided 

 into two erect fleshy lobes. The ovary is one- 

 celled, but there are some traces of membranes, 

 which would, if perfect, have divided it into from 

 two to five cells. The seeds are numerous and 

 very small. Gardenia radicans is a dwarf plant, 

 which flowers freely when of very small size, 

 and is easily propagated from the readiness with 

 which its stem throws out roots ; but G.florida 

 is a shrub five or six feet high, and much more 

 difficult to cultivate. In both species the 

 flowers are generally double, and the petals are 

 of a fleshy substance, which gives the corolla a 

 peculiarly wax-like appearance. 



There are many other species, but the two 

 above-mentioned are the most common in 

 British gardens. Burchellia capensis is gene- 



