176 
THE LADIES’ FLOWER-GARDEN 
require a stove in Great Britain. Some few, however, only require a greenhouse, and these are not only orna- 
mental in their flowers, but remarkable for their delightful fragrance. The genus is named in honour of Dr. Garden 
of Charlestown, Carolina, one of the correspondents of Linnseus. 
L— GARDENIA FLORIDA Lin. 
Synonymes. — G. jasminoides Sol . ; Jasminum capense Mill. 
Variety. — G. f. var. Fortuniana Lindl. 
Engraving. — Bot. Reg., t. 449. 
THE COMMON CAPE JASMINE. 
Specific Character. — Shrubby, unarmed. Leaves ovate, attenu- 
ated at both ends. Berries elongated, turbinate, ribbed. Segments 
of the calyx linear, elongated. 
Description, &c. — It is a singular fact that though this plant is generally called the Cape Jasmine, it is 
not a native of the Cape of Good Hope, but of China and Japan. In the year 1754 Captain Hutchinson, of the 
Godolphin Indiaman, met with a bush of this plant growing in a garden at the Cape of Good Hope, and he was so 
much stmck with its beauty, that he brought the whole of it in a pot to England, where he gave it to a friend of 
his named Warner, of Woodford Row, Essex, who was a great cultivator of exotics. This gentleman permitted 
Mr. Gordon, a nurseryman at Mile End, to take layers from the plant, and it was so much admired that he is said 
to have made five hundred pounds by it ; a large sum in those days, when the taste for gardening was much less 
common than at the present. It is now common in gardens, where it requires the usual treatment of greenhouse 
plants, though when it is wished for it to blossom in early spring, it must be put for a short time into a hotbed or 
a stove. The plant first introduced was double flowered, and the single state of the species was not brought to 
England till 1820. The flowers, wJiich are of a beautiful cream colour when in perfection, turn buff as they 
fade ; and the berries, which are full of an orange-coloured pulp, are used as a dye in China and Japan. The 
variety has double flowers, and is very beautiful, resembling a large white Camellia. 
2.— GARDENIA RADICANS Thunh. THE DWARF CAPE JASMINE. 
Synonyme. — G. florida var. Wall. Specific Character. — Unarmed. Leaves lanceolate. Corolla 
Engravings. — Bot. Mag., t. 1842 ; Bot. Reg., t. 73 ; Bot. Rep., salver-shaped, obtuse. Calyx angular. Stem rooting, 
t. 491 ; and our jig. 4, in PI. 35. 
Description, &c. — Only the double-flowered variety of this species is known in England, and, as is observed in 
the “ Bot. Reg.,” “ it is difficult to say in what respect it differs from the double-flowered variety of the common 
Cape Jasmine, except in size.” The difference in that respect, however, is very great; for the common Cape 
Jasmine, under favourable circumstances, often becomes six or seven feet high, while G. radicans rarely exceeds 
the height of one foot. The flowers are of nearly the same size, and if anything they are rather larger in the 
smallest plant G. radicans is, however, always distinguishable from G. florida by its habit of throwing out roots 
from the stem above ground ; but this is only the case when the plant has been kept for some time in a warm 
damp situation. The plant should be kept from the autumn till about March in the greenhouse, and then plunged 
into a hotbed to throw it into flower, after which it may be returned to the greenhouse, or liept in a room at 
pleasure. The species is a native of China, whence it was sent home in 1804. It is propagated by cuttings, 
which will flower as soon as they have taken root. Dr. Wallich and Dr. Bindley both think this plant only a 
variety of G. florida. 
