GARDENIA

I'm sure many would have heard of the Gardenia bread but do you know that Gardenia is actually a flower. Well, I bought the plant during the holidays last year and got Puan Asiah to plant it in our Herb Garden this morning.

The species that I bought is the Gardenia jasminoides (also known as Gardenia augusta). It is a fragrant flowering evergreen tropical plant.

The flower is used as a yellow dye, which is used for clothes and food (including the Korean mung bean jelly called hwangpomuk). Gardenia jasminoides fructus (fruit) is used within Traditional Chinese Medicine to "drain fire" and thereby treat certain febrile conditions.

Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gardenia_jasminoides