Vasilis Teodoridis:
Gardenia augusta (L.) Merrill; Interpret. Rumph. Herb. Amboin. 485. 1917.
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Varneria augusta L.; Amoen. Acad. 4: 136. 1759; G. jasminoides Ellis; G. florida Linn.; G. radicans Thunb.; G. grandiflora Lour.; G. schlechteri Lévl.; G. augusta Merr.; G. jasminoides Ellis f. variegata (Carr.) Nakai; G. jasminoides Ellis f. oblanceolata (Nakai) Nakai; G. jasminoides Ellis var. longisepala (Masam.) Metcalf; G. jasminoides Ellis f. simpliciflora (Makino) Makino; G. jasminoides Ellis f. maruba (Sieb. ex Bl.) Nakai ex Ishii; G. jasminoides Ellis f. ovalifolia (Sims) Hara.
Shrubs; 0.3--3 m tall; branches terete; gray; usually shortly hairy when young. Leaves opposite; rarely in whorls of 3; petiole 0.2--1 cm long; blade leathery; rarely papery; various in size; usually oblong-lanceolate; obovate-oblong; obovate or elliptic; 3--25 x 1.5--8 cm; apex acuminate; abruptly long-acuminate or acute and obtuse; base cuneate or acute; both surfaces often glabrous; bright green adaxially; darker abaxially; lateral veins 8--15 pairs; prominent abaxially; depressed adaxially; stipules membranous. Flower fragrant; usually solitary;terminal on branches. Pedicels 3--5 mm long. Calyx tube obconical or ovate; 8--25 mm long; with longitudinal ridges; calyx limb tubulate; inflated; apex 5- to 8-lobes; usually 6-lobed; lobes lanceolate or linear-anceolate; 10--30 x 1--4 mm; enlarged at fruiting; persistent. Corolla white or yellow; simple or double; salverform; throat pilose; tube narrowly cylindrical; 3--5 x 4--6 mm; apex 5- to 8-lobed; usually 6-lobed; lobes spreading broadly; obovate or obovate-oblong; 1.5--4 x 0.6--2.8 cm; filaments very short; anthers linear; 1.5--2.2 cm long; exserted. Style thick; ca. 4.5 cm long; stigma fusiform; exserted; 1--1.5 x 3--7 mm. Ovary ca. 3 mm in diameter; yellow; smooth. Fruit ovate; subglobose; elliptic or oblong; yellow or orange-yellow; 1.5--7 cm long; 1.2--2 cm in diameter; with 5--9 longitudinal winged ridges; apex with persistent calyx lobes to 40 x 6 mm. Seeds many; flattened; subrotund and slightly angular; ca. 3.5 x 3 mm wide. Fl. Mar--Jul; fr. May--Feb.
Thickets and forests at stream sides; on mountain slopes; on hills; or in valleys and fields; 10--1500 m. Shangdong; Jiangsu; Anhui; Jiangxi; Fujian; Taiwan; Hubei; Hunan; Guangdong; Hongkong; Guangxi; Hainan; Sichua; Guizhou; Yunnan [Japan; N Korea; Vietnam; Laos; Cambodia; India; Nepal; Pakistan; Pacific islands and N America]; cultivated in Hebei; Shanxi; Gansu.