The open plant encyclopedia
Snap a photo or search by any name to see how to care for it, where it comes from, whether it's safe, and a 3D model you can turn.
The plants people record most in your country, and ones that grow there wild.
Filter by what you want to do, shape, origin, country, care and safety.
Gardenia brighamii
Also called Hawaiian Gardenia, Hawaiin Gardenia, Na'u
Forest gardenia is a small endemic Hawaiian tree, up to about 5 m, with glossy leaves and fragrant white flowers, now rare in the wild and grown as an ornamental in Hawaii. It needs warm, frost-free conditions and bright light, so it is best suited to tropical or subtropical gardens.
Gardenia brighamii is a species of flowering plant in the coffee family, Rubiaceae. It is sometimes referred to by the common names nānū, naʻu, or forest gardenia, and is endemic to Hawaii.
Forest gardenia inhabits tropical dry forests at elevations of 350–520 m (1,150–1,710 ft). It previously could be found on all main islands, but today populations only exist on Maui, Molokaʻi, Oʻahu, and Lānaʻi, and the Big Island.
Native Hawaiians made kua kuku (kapa anvils) and pou (house posts) from the wood of nānū. A yellow kapa dye was derived from the fruit pulp. The white, fragrant flowers are used in lei. Today, it is grown as an ornamental plant on the islands.
Gardenia actinocarpa · Gardenia anapetes · Gardenia angkorensis · Gardenia barnesii · Gardenia candida · Tonga gardenia · Gardenia dacryoides · Gardenia elata · Gardenia erubescens · Gardenia ewartii · Gardenia faucicola · Gardenia fucata
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gardenia brighamii by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
Life form, climate and native range: World Checklist of Vascular Plants, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (CC BY 3.0), reformatted; see Plants of the World Online.
