Notes:
CMT: Gardenia is widespread in the Paleotropics and often found in dry vegetation. It is characterized by interpetiolar or calyptrate stipules; very often resinous stem apices and flower buds; the leaves often clustered at the ends of the stems; solitary, terminal, bisexual, usually noctural, often showy flowers; 5-8 calyx lobes, corolla lobes, and stamens; a funnelform to salverform corolla with the lobes contorted in bud; and berry-like indehiscent fruits with fleshy walls and numerous smooth, flattened to angled seeds. Many of the species are deciduous. Gardenia is similar to Melanoxerus and Hyperacanthus; all of these genera are poorly known in Madagascar and each includes more undescribed species than described ones. The Madagascar plants of Gardenia and Hyperacanthus were at one time included in Genipa, but Genipa is a Neotropical genus and this was an error.
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