EXTRA FRAGRANT 
*GARDENIA. This word to most per- 
sons symbolizes the heavy fragrance of 
florist shops or undertaking parlors. Ac- 
tually it is the name of a family of 70 
different kinds of trees and shrubs from 
the Old World tropics, and most of them 
have large, smelly flowers. Gardenia tur- 
gida is a small, deciduous Indian tree, the 
branches sometimes thorny. Two kinds of 
white flowers, the females larger than 
the males, appear on the same tree in 
March or April before the new leaves ap- 
pear. G. globesa is a South African shrub 
with masses of single, scented, campanu- 
late flowers, usually white or cream with 
cherry-red lines pointing from the dull 
gold inside the tube, but varying in color 
and size on different plants. G. thunbergi 
is rarely seen in Florida gardens though 
much used as a root-stock for grafted bush 
gardenias because of its resistance to 
nematodes. It makes a pretty, small tree 
to 15 feet, with thickly-set glossy leaves 
and striking 4-inch single white fragrant 
blossoms that come several times a year. 
The Kedah Gardenia (G. carinata) is a 
small evergreen tree of the Malayan for- 
ests, which Corner says deserves to be 
placed among the most beautiful of flow- 
aoe trees. Its flowers, with 6-9 petals 
and 2-4 inches wide, pale cream-yellow 
deepening to rich egg-yellow, are more 
richly-colored and more fragrant than any 
florist ever dreamed of. The tree is rather 
spreading when planted in the open. 
"STINKWOOD (Gustavia angusta. 
Syn. G. superba). Such an approbrious 
common name arises from the passing 
odor of the enormous leaves of this slender 
evergreen Brazilian tree to 20 feet or 
more, but the beautiful sweet-scented 
flowers redeem it. Freeman & Williams 
say: “Flowers round, fragrant and showy, 
4-5 inches diameter,” the petals creamy 
white or purple- -tinged. The very num- 
erous stamens in a 1%-inch cluster in the 
center of the flower are white at the base 
with rose filaments and yellow anthers. 
The leaves, often 3 feet long, are clust- 
ered at the ends of the branches, and the 
flowers in bunches of 2 to 12 are on the 
cld naked branches or at their tips. 
49 
YLANG-YLANG (Canangium  odora- 
tum). Famed as a perfume tree in the far 
east, this evergreen 40-foot tree is so brit- 
tle and breaks up so badly in our hurri- 
canes that I never encourage anybody to 
plant it unless they can cut it back as a 
shrub. Its droopy yellow flowers with 
strap-shaped petals are nothing to look at 
but they take the place of “My Sin” when 
the .Malayan belles wear them in their 
haix. 
FRANGIPANI 
*FRANGIPANI (Plumeria sp.). There 
are many forms of this awkward, decidu- 
cus Mexican tree to 20 feet, with red, 
pink, white, yellow, purple and even 2- 
color and 3-color blossoms, highly fra- 
grant at night and prized in Hee and 
elsewhere for their long-lasting qualities. 
The flowers hybridize readily and the 
color variations are endless. Commonest 
in Florida gardens is the white with yel- 
low center (P. acutifolia) although the 
two Cuban whites (P. emarginata and 
Pealbd }pare.seet occasionally. The deep 
red (P. rubra) and the golden yellow 
(Plumeria sp.) are rarer. In my garden 
I have P. tricolor with mixed red, yellow 
and white petals. 
"EASTER TREE (Holarrhena antidy- 
senterica). Because it blooms at Easter 
and its fragrant frangipani-like white blos- 
soms are useful in temple decoration, this 
small deciduous tree is called “Easter tree” 
in its native India. For descriptions of 
this and H. wulfsbergi see my 1947 cata- 
log. 
