Gardenia is a genus of 142 species of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, southern Asia, Australasia and Oceania. The genus was named by Carl Linnaeus after Dr. Alexander Garden (1730 to 1791), a Scottish-born American naturalist. They are evergreen shrubs and small trees growing to 1 to 15 metres tall. The leaves are opposite or in whorls of three or four, 5 to 50 centimetres long and 3 to 25 centimetres broad, dark green and glossy with a leathery texture. The flowers are solitary or in small clusters, white, or pale yellow, with a tubular-based corolla with 5 to 12 lobes (petals) from 5 to 12 centimetres diameter. Flowering is from about mid-spring to mid-summer and many species are strongly scented.

Gardenia resiniflua or Gummy gardenia as it is commonly known is a flowering tree that will attain 7 meters in height. It has pale grey bark, veined velvety leaves and strongly scented white flowers during summer. A decoction from the fruit is used for tattooing.