A tropical flowering plant with fragrant, creamy-white or yellow flowers often used in corsages and perfumes.
Named after Alexander Garden, an 18th-century Scottish botanist living in Charleston, South Carolina. The Latinized name 'Gardenia' follows the convention of naming plants after naturalists. It became widely cultivated in the 19th century.
The gardenia's name honors Alexander Garden, yet he never actually discovered it—it's one of those botanical ironies where plants are named after people who studied similar things rather than who found them.
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