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Gardenia latifolia
Also called Ceylon Boxwood
Gardenia latifolia is a medium-sized to large, long-lived tree or large shrub from India and Bangladesh, in the coffee family, sometimes grown for its shade and fruit. It is not a typical houseplant and needs a warm, seasonally dry tropical climate.
Gardenia latifolia, also called papra or Hindi:पापडा, Bengali: যোজনগন্ধা, Tamizh: Kattu marikalam or Kumbai is medium-sized to large, long-lived tree of family Rubiaceae. Its English common name is Indian Boxwood or Ceylon Boxwood. It is found in the forests of Madhya Pradesh in India, and has been widely cultivated elsewhere, to the point of naturalization, especially in Nigeria, West Africa where the tree is highly valued for both its fruit and shade.
Indian boxwood is a small deciduous tree or large shrub, which often grows on other small plants, which it eventually kills, the way Figs do. Bark is greenish-grey, peeling and leaving smooth, concave, rounded depressions. Oppositely arranged, or whorled leaves have very short stalks, and are oval to obovate, smooth, with a small hairy gland in the axils of the veins on the underside, 6–8 in long, by about 3 in broad.
Gardenia actinocarpa · Gardenia anapetes · Gardenia angkorensis · Gardenia barnesii · Forest gardenia · Gardenia candida · Tonga gardenia · Gardenia dacryoides · Gardenia elata · Gardenia erubescens · Gardenia ewartii · Gardenia faucicola
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Gardenia latifolia 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.
