Gardenia speciosa

Guettarda speciosa, sea randa, zebra wood, Haterumagiri (scientific name: Guettarda speciosa) is a tropical evergreen shrub in the genus Guettarda of the family Rubiaceae, native to the Yaeyama Islands of Okinawa, Southeast Asia, India, and the Pacific Islands of Australia. It is considered the national flower of the Marshall Islands. In its native habitat, it grows wild along the edges of coastal forests. The trunk is erect, 2-6 m tall and 1-3 m wide with light yellow bark. The leaves are dark green, 15 to 20 cm long and 10 to 18 cm wide, oblong-oval with distinct veins. From October to May of the following year, it produces a concentrated inflorescence from the leaf axils that bears several small white or pale yellow flowers with a high cup-shaped shape and 4 to 9 lobes at the tip. The flowers bloom at night and are fragrant, attracting moths. After flowering, from September to March of the following year, the fruit is an oblong liquid fruit 2-3 cm in diameter that turns brown when ripe. Inside the fruit is an ovoid seed, which floats on the water when it falls into the sea. Bats eat the fruit and disperse the seeds. In Australia and other parts of the world, indigenous people used the trees for shore protection, the wood for canoes and other woodworking tools and fuel, the leaves for plates, food storage, and folk medicine, and the flowers for fragrance.

Common name: Guettarda speciosa, scientific name: Guettarda speciosa, subnames: Haterumagiri , sea randa, zebra wood, igabusa, height: 2 to 6 m, width: 1 to 3 m, bark color: light yellow, leaf color: dark green, leaf shape: elliptic, leaf length: 15-20 cm, leaf width: 10-18 cm, leaf margin: entire, leaf underside: hairy, inflorescence: opposite, inflorescence: clustered, corolla shape: high cup with 4-9 lobes at tip, flower color: white, pale yellow, fragrance: yes, flower diameter: 1 cm, floral tube length: 1.5-2 cm, floral tube width: 0.3 cm, petal number Flowering season: October to May of the following year; Flowering time: night; Fruiting season: September to March of the following year; Fruit type: liquid fruit; Fruit shape: oblong; Fruit diameter: 2-3 cm; Fruit color: brown when ripe; Seed: Oval seed inside fruit, floating in water; Insect-pollinated: pollinated by moths; Uses: shore protection, food storage, folk medicine, fuel, woodworking material.

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