GARDENIA 



GARDENIA 



627 



introduced much later than the double, and has always 

 been less popular. The earliest picture of a living plant 

 with single fls. was published in 1820 in B.R. 449. Some 

 fine plants still known to the trade as Gardenias are 

 now placed in the allied genera Randia and Mitriostigma. 

 These two genera have a many-celled ovary, while that 

 of Gardenia is 1-celled. The calyx in Gardenia is often 

 tubular, in Mitriostigma 5-parted, in Randia various. 

 The testa of the seeds is membranaceous in Randia; 

 in Mitriostigma rather fibrous. Gardenias are obtain- 

 able chiefly through southern and Californian dealers. 

 Cape Jasmines are also handled by importers of Japan- 

 ese plants, who sometimes offer seeds also. G. lucida 

 was probably introduced by Reasoner, and G. JHoth- 

 tnanni by Franceschi. For the true Jasmines C which 

 belong to the olive family, and are often trailing 

 plants), see Jasminum. 



G. florida and G. radicans have long been figured separately, 

 and our nurserymen still keep the names distinct. The only 

 difference which DeCandolle records is that G. florida is more 

 shrubby and erect, with elliptical Ivs. acute at both ends, grow- 

 ing spontaneously in China and cult, in Japan, while G. radi- 

 cans has a stem that takes root, lanceolate Ivs., and is a native 

 of Japan. Both plants, DeCandolle wrote, were cult, in India 

 and at the Cape. Ellis founded the genus upon a double-fld. 

 specimen, which he figured in the Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. 

 in 1761. In 1816 Sims pictured a double form in B.M. 1842 with 

 these remarks: "In the way that Gardenia radicans is treated 

 in our stoves, the stems show no disposition to put forth roots; 

 but probably would were they suffered to come in contact with 

 the earth. It is doubtful whether it has ever been seen in this 

 country, or even in China, with a single flower. There is a 

 great affinity between this species and Gardenia florida, from 

 which it differs very little, except in the lesser size of its flow- 

 ers and leaves, which last are narrowed at both extremities. 

 The flowers have nearly the same fragrant smell, and the plant, 

 flowering more freely and being more easily propagated than 

 the true Cape Jasmine, it has of late much taken the place of 

 this last, and is frequently sold for it." Before 1820, Sir J. 

 Smith wrote in Rees" Encyc.: "The original idea and char- 

 acter of this genus are taken from G. florida, commonly called 

 'Cape Jasmine.' This was first brought to England by Capt. 

 Hutchinson (of the Godolphin Indiaman), who, about the mid- 

 dle of the last century, met with a bush of it in full flower, 

 somewhere near the Cape of Good Hope, probably in a culti- 

 vated state. He brought the whole plant in a pot to England. 

 * Mr. Gordon, the nurseryman, having obtained layers 

 from the tree, propagated it so successfully that he is said to 

 have gained more than 500 I. by the produce. It is now fre- 

 quent in our gardens, treated as a stove plant, though it chiefly 

 requires heat in the early spring to make it bloom, being at 

 other times a hardy greenhouse plant. The flowers are the size 

 and aspect of a double Narcissus poeticus, with a sweet and 

 very powerful scent, resembling the flavour of ginger. They 

 turn buff as they fade." From the above evidence, and from 

 the pictures cited below, it seems clear that if the trade names 

 G. Fortunei, florida and radicans really represent 3 distinct 

 varieties, the only single distinction that can be made is in 

 width of foliage; Fortunei having Ivs. 2 in. wide, florida 1-1% 

 in., and radicans %-l in. wide. 



A. Corolla tube cylindrical. 



B. Calyx with 5 long teeth. 

 C. Ribs on the calyx. 



jasminoides, Ellis. (G. fUrida, Linn. G. radicans, 

 Thunb.). CAPE JASMINE. Discussed above. Forpictures 

 of double forms, see B.M. 1842 and 2627 and B.R. 1:73 ; 

 single, B.R. 6:449 and B.M. 3349; normal and varie- 

 gated foliage, R.H, 1864, p. 30. China. Var. Fortuniana, 

 LiiK\\.(G. Fortunei, Hort.). B.R. 32:43. F.S.2:177. R.B. 

 23:241. In 1893 John Saul advertised G. cimellice flora 

 in addition to G. radicans, G. florida and vars. major 

 and majestica . G. Sinensis grandiflora of Berger's cata- 

 logue perhaps belongs here. 



cc. Ribs not present. 



lucida, Roxb. Buds resinous : Ivs. oblong : stipules 

 annular, variously divided at the mouth, unequally 

 lobed. India, Burma, Luzon. The calyx teeth are not 

 decurrent, as in the Cape Jessamine, and thus the calyx 

 does not have the ribbed look. 



^BB. Calyx tubular, with 5 very short teeth. 

 amoena, Sims. Differs from all here described in hav- 

 ing numerous strong spines nearly % in. long, which are 

 axillary. Lvs. oval, acute, short-stalked : fls. subtermi- 

 , nal ; corolla tube 1 in. long, longer than the lobes, which 

 . are 6, obovate, white, with margins incurved enough to 

 show the rosy back. India or China. 



BBB. Calyx spathe-like. 



Thunbergia, Linn. f. Lvs. broadly elliptic, acuie, with 

 pairs of glands along the midribs: fls. 3 in. across, pure 

 white ; corolla lobes 8, overlapping. S.Afr. B.M. 1004. 

 " Dwarf -growing." Franceschi. 



AA. Corolla tube short and wide-throated. 

 B. Fls. 3 in. long and broad. 



Rothmannia, Linn. f. Very distinct in foliage and 

 fl. Lvs. with pairs of hairy glands along the midrib: 

 calyx ribbed, with 5 long teeth, equaling the short, 

 cylindrical portion of the corolla tube ; corolla tube 

 rather suddenly swelled, ribbed : lobes 5, long-acumi- 

 nate, whitish, spotted purple in the mouth. S. Afr 

 B.M. 690. L.B.C. 11:1053. "Fls. pale yellow." Fran- 

 ceschi. 



BB. Fls. lYt in. long and broad. 



globosa, Hochst. Lvs. oblong, short-acuminate; leaf- 

 stalk nearly 3-5 lines long : fls. white, inside hairy and 

 lined pale yellow; calyx small, with 5 very short teeth; 

 corolla tube wide at the base and gradually swelled : 

 lobes 5, short-acuminate. S. Afr. B.M. 4791. F.S. 

 9:951. 



G. citriodbra, Hook.=Mitriostigma axillare. G. Stanleyana, 

 Hook.=Randia maculata. \y > j\j_ 



Gardenia jasminoides (the true Cape Jasmine) has 

 again become very popular, even suggesting its popu- 

 larity thirty years ago, when its wax-like, fragrant blos- 

 soms were highly fashionable. Then several of the lead- 

 ing florists erected special houses for it, in order that they 

 might flower it in the winter season. The writer had 

 charge of one of these houses. The attempt to blooin 

 them in midwinter was, however, only partly successful, 

 for it is against the nature of the plant to force it into 

 bloom before the turn of the sun in, say, January. If 

 the plants have been well established the previous sum- 

 mer and are well set with flower buds, they can be suc- 

 cessfully forced into bloom in a sunny greenhouse, giv- 

 ing them stove heat and frequent syringings with tepid 

 water. The plants will be entirely covered with their 

 great blossoms. To grow and prepare such plants, cut- 

 tings with two or three joints or eyes of well-ripened 

 wood should be made in December or January, putting: 

 them into the propagating bed of sharp sand, with 

 a bottom heat of not less than 75, and keeping close until 

 callused. Then air can be admitted. After rooting, they 

 should be potted into small pots and grown on until the 

 middle of May, when they can be planted out into a cold- 

 frame orold hotbed, into arich, sandy loam, giving them 

 the full sun and treating them the same as Ficus elastica, 

 is now grown. Abundance of water and frequent syring- 

 ing are essential. Pinch the shoots, so as to make the 

 plants bushy and branchy. In the latter part of August 

 or beginning of September the plants should be potted 

 into 5-, 6- or 7-inch pots, according to their size, then 

 placed either in a hotbed with gentle bottom heat or 

 in a house where a moist stove temperature can be 

 maintained until the plants are well rooted. During this 

 period they should be slightly shaded, after which the 

 plants can be hardened off and put into their winter 

 quarters. Put in a cool greenhouse where Azaleas or 

 Camellias or other New Holland or Cape stock is win- 

 tered, until their time for forcing into flower arrives, in 

 the early part of the new year. 



There is considerable difference between the large-leaf 

 or Fortuniana variety and the common G. jasminoides. 

 While the same treatment will answer for both, and the fl. 

 of the former is much larger, it is not so profitable for 

 commercial purposes as the ordinary G. jasminoides. 

 There is also a difference between these and the variety 

 known as G. radicans, and its variegated variety, radi- 

 cans fol. var. These plants grow much dwarfer, and 

 their habit is more radicant or flat or prostrate in 

 growth. Their foliage is myrtle-like and the flowers are 

 much smaller and are less valuable. These, however, 

 make good flowering (dwarf) pot-plants under similar 

 treatment. The variegated form is cultivated in great 

 abundance in Japan, in the gardens in semi-tropical 

 sections. None of the other varieties is of much com- 

 mercial importance, and they have value only in botani- 

 cal collections. H. A. SIEBRECHT. 



