Gardenia - Plant Encyclopedia Results (Page 6)

Called pikake in Hawaii, Sambac is the plant used to flavor the jasmine tea and making perfumes. Perfect houseplant, takes both sun or shade, Jasminum Sambac is a beautiful fragrant everbloomer for your home and garden. Grand Duke is a slow grower and grows as a bush. It has the biggest of all sambacs tripple cauliflowered (camellia-like shaped) fragrant flowers. Excellent foliage of deep green ruffled leaves on strong rigidly erect canes; easily produces its typically solitary flower if provided richly fertilized warm soil, bright light and even levels of humidity. It has bushy growth habit; trim regularly to avoid legginess. Avoid chill to prevent flower bud drop. This variety is relatively shade tolerant, slow growing and compact, thus is good for potting and indoor culture.

New hybrid variety Supreme has elongated leaves and larger flowers that often come in bunches.

See Video about Sambac varieties

Read more about Jasminum Sambac varieties and see more pictures: Jasminum Sambac Page.

Jasminum sambac 'Grand Duke of Tuscany' is a cultivated jasmine variety known for its very full, rosette-like flowers. The blooms are double to fully double, with many tightly layered petals that give them a compact, rounded appearance similar to small gardenias. Flowers open creamy white and retain their shape well as they mature. The fragrance is strong, rich, and sweet, making this cultivar one of the most aromatic forms of Arabian jasmine.

One of the most popular native fruit of Brazil. This is a slow-growing rather bushy tree up to 15 ft tall, often multi-stemmed with opposite small leaves. The larger trunks and branches have bark which peels off in small patches which is found to be very attractive. The tree is evergreen, but once or twice during the year it will shed large numbers of leaves generally corresponding to heavy rains. Small white flowers are produced along the larger trunks and branches ("cauliflora" means "flowers growing on trunk"). Fruit development is very rapid, usually taking only 20-25 days from flower to full maturity.

The fruit forms on the trunks on short stems, with 2-3 fruits sometimes in a cluster. When trees are in heavy fruit, you cannot see the branches for all the large numbers of dark purplish-black fruits that look like large grapes. They have a white pulp with several small seeds. Skin is thick, and delicious melting pulp somewhat resembles Northern Black Currant in flavor. Jaboticaba fruits are ready to harvest when they have developed a full color and are somewhat soft like a ripe grape. The fruits can be eaten fresh, used in jellies, jams, ice creams, wines or can be frozen whole to enjoy throughout the year. Usually, Jaboticaba will bear fruit only in 6 to 10 years from seed. Once mature, the trees may produce between six to eight crops of fruit per year.

Jaboticaba is fairly wind tolerant but not salt tolerant, but it is relatively cold hardy, taking down to 23 F for short periods without serious damage. Young plants may be injured at around upper 20's F. As the root system is shallow and dries out quickly, the tree requires regular irrigation. It thrives better when planted in heavily mulched organic soils. In their native area, Jaboticabas are frequently flooded by rising rivers for weeks at a time without serious damage, so they are considered water-tolerant. The plant will do best in acid soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5, somewhat like gardenias. In highly alkaline soil the plant often develops micronutrient deficiency.

Because of its slow growth, Jaboticaba is perfect for growing in containers. Mature trees in 3-5 gal pots can be many years old. Due to small leaves and dwarfish growth habit, Jaboticaba is often used as bonsai. The tree is small enough to fit into many parts of the garden landscape. Some old bonsai specimens can fruit.

See video about a mail ordered Jaboticaba tree.

Kailarsenia lineata is a tropical shrub or small tree noted for its glossy evergreen foliage and fragrant white flowers that appear in warm, humid climates of Southeast Asia.

Kailarsenia lineata grows as a compact to medium evergreen shrub with slender branches and narrow, glossy leaves arranged in elegant whorls along the stems. Its white, star-shaped flowers are lightly fragrant and appear during warm periods, contrasting with the deep green foliage. The plant thrives in bright filtered light to full sun, preferring evenly moist, well-drained soil and steady warmth to support both vegetative growth and flowering. In frost-free tropical and subtropical regions it serves as an attractive landscape shrub or small tree, valued for its tidy form, reliable blooming, and suitability for humid garden environments.

What is Kailarsenia vietnamensis and how does it differ?

Kailarsenia vietnamensis is used as a horticultural name for a cultivated form within the species Kailarsenia lineata. This cultivated form differs from the typical parent by having more pendulous flower clusters, slightly shorter internodes, and smaller, glossier leaves with a stronger silvery midrib sheen.