Example ⟳ +
An example collection, so you can see what this page does. Nothing added here is kept: leaving deletes it.
Gardenia tubifera; photograph (c) Cheongweei Gan, some rights reserved (CC BY) CC BY(c) Cheongweei Gan, some rights reserved (CC BY) · observed growing wild · 2015-08-06

Gardenia tubifera Wall.

Rubiaceae · Cambodia, Nicobar Is. +5

Cited as Kew's World Checklist cites it, Gardenia tubifera Wall.: GBIF's backbone key for this page carries the name with another author, Wall. ex Roxb.

Add one to my plants
Sow seed
Gardenia tubifera, photograph (c) Doreen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gardenia tubifera, photograph (c) Doreen, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gardenia tubifera, photograph (c) Cheongweei Gan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gardenia tubifera, photograph (c) Cheongweei Gan, some rights reserved (CC BY)Gardenia tubifera, photograph Afrodita_nz, Public domain, via Wikimedia CommonsGardenia tubifera, photograph Makuahine Pa'i Ki'i from Lihue, U.S.A., CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons 12 photographs ›
Habitat figures
Cold floor (1 night in 100)
22.4°C
Record low 20.9 °C in 44 years, at a typical spot in the range NASA POWER
Warmest month, mean daily high
29°C
Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug and Oct at the habitat CHELSA
Rain a year (median across the range)
2,558mm
12 months of 25 mm or more in the median year CHELSA
Open-sky light
28–36DLI
Lowest to highest month (DLI) CHELSA
The year in the habitat's months, not shifted
  1. Jan
  2. Feb
  3. Mar
  4. Apr
  5. May
  6. Jun
  7. Jul
  8. Aug
  9. Sep
  10. Oct
  11. Nov
  12. Dec
Rain spread: 70% of the median year's rain takes 8 months, so no short rainy season. rain rule, CHELSA
Not shifted: the shift rule does not apply to this habitat. The chart is in the habitat's months.

Summary

Gardenia tubifera, also called golden gardenia, is a species of flowering small tree in the family Rubiaceae, native to Asia. It is a small tree, growing to a height of 2–4 m (6–12 ft) high with a spread of 1–2 m (3–6 ft). It prefers tropical conditions and will not tolerate temperatures below freezing.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Gardenia tubifera", CC BY-SA 4.0.

About the genus · Gardenia

Gardenia is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Madagascar, Pacific Islands, and Australia.

Quoted from Wikipedia, "Gardenia", CC BY-SA 4.0.

Cultivation

Seasons

The rain rule reads no short rainy season: 70% of the median year's rain (1,788 mm of 2,431 mm) takes 8 months, September to January and March to May. Mean temperature moves 1.7 °C between the warmest and coldest month. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere. The habitat lies within 10° of the equator, where the shift rule does not apply, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.

Rain

2,431 mm in the median year at the habitat, 1,788 mm of it September to January and March to May. Wettest month December at 294 mm, driest month February at 129 mm. Across the grid cells of the range the year's total runs 2,312 mm to 3,247 mm, the 10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year. The median of the cells' own yearly totals, 2,558 mm, is the year's rain at the top of the page; the 2,431 mm here is the median year's, the twelve monthly medians added, which the rain rule reads. Habitat calendar, southern hemisphere; median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA.

Light

Open sky over the habitat: 28 to 36 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 27, the highest 90th-percentile month 39).

Warmth and air
Temperature

Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range is 22.4 °C, the absolute minimum 20.9 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 31.6 °C. Monthly means: the coldest month's mean nightly low 23.9 °C in January (across the grid cells of the range 22.8 °C to 24.5 °C), the warmest month's mean daily high 29.1 °C in April (median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). Cold floor: 22.4 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at a typical spot in the range (NASA POWER).

Humidity

Relative humidity at the habitat: 65 to 67% across the year (monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.

How this section is made

Each card states this species' habitat figures with their sources, and what two fixed rules read from them; nothing here says what the plant does, wants or tolerates. The rules · the terms.

Seasons. Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the grid cells of the range: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve moves 4 °C or more and the habitat lies 10° or more from the equator. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.

Rain. CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the grid cells of the range. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.

Light. CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.

Temperature. NASA POWER daily minima and maxima over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, lapse-corrected -38 m to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the grid cells of the range. The cold floor is the 1st-percentile night named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.

Humidity. CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the grid cells of the range.

Climate across the habitat

Habitat months, southern hemisphere

Habitat climate of Gardenia tubifera through the yearWarmest months March, April, May, June, July, August and October, mean daily high 29 °C; coldest month January, mean nightly low 23.9 °C; 2,431 mm of rain in the median year (the twelve monthly medians added). Medians across the range, from CHELSA; the extremes at the edge from NASA POWER. Habitat months, southern hemisphere.15°20°25°30°35°31.6° 99th-percentile day, NASA POWER20.9° lowest night in 44 years, NASA POWER°C · day and nightcold quarter0100200300400500mm rainDLI 28–36RH 65–67%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
day night rain medians and 10th–90th percentile across 13 habitat cells, CHELSA cold quarter: the three months around the coldest month's mean nightly low extremes over 44 years at a typical spot in the range, from NASA POWER, marked at the edge, in no month DLI, mol/m²/dayRH %each on its own scale
Figures by month
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Day °C28 / 27–3028 / 27–3029 / 28–3029 / 29–3029 / 29–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3029 / 28–3028 / 27–3129 / 27–3128 / 28–3028 / 27–29
Night °C24 / 23–2524 / 23–2525 / 23–2625 / 23–2625 / 23–2625 / 23–2625 / 22–2625 / 22–2625 / 22–2625 / 23–2524 / 23–2524 / 23–25
Rain mm217 / 51–323129 / 50–302209 / 97–338215 / 177–310211 / 199–279165 / 158–358172 / 135–388177 / 127–464188 / 154–396201 / 186–339253 / 168–361294 / 77–379
DLI31 / 29–3336 / 31–3735 / 31–3934 / 30–3832 / 29–3331 / 29–3231 / 29–3233 / 30–3434 / 29–3433 / 30–3329 / 28–3128 / 27–31
RH %66 / 63–7065 / 64–7066 / 65–7067 / 65–7167 / 65–7266 / 64–7265 / 64–7165 / 63–7165 / 64–7166 / 65–7067 / 65–7067 / 62–71
How this section is made
Each figure is the median across the 13 grid cells holding the 14 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. A dash is a month one or more of those cells has no figure for in the grid (a variable CHELSA does not carry there), so no median is taken rather than one over fewer cells. Extremes and elevation were read at a typical spot in the range, cell 1767:5821 (1.625, 111.075). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 20.9 °C, 1st-percentile night 22.4 °C, 99th-percentile day 31.6 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Across the range: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 13 distinct grid cells holding 14 of the 14 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 1767:5821 (its coldest month's mean nightly low nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 1.50_111.250, lapse-corrected -38 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 8 m (cell mean).

Natural habitat

Native range as published by WCVP; the marker is where the records are densest and decides nothing: the climate was read across the cells of the in-range records placed well enough to read one, not at the marker.
Openly licensed records inside the range, framed on where they fall.
NativeCambodia, Nicobar Is., Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Malaya, Sumatera · regions are the level-3 units of the World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, as Kew's World Checklist records ranges, some under historical names such as Yugoslavia or Czechoslovakia (how).
Map marker-2.259, 115.317 · in the densest population, 43 records (58% of those in range)
Kew's description“shrub” · “wet tropical” · quoted from WCVP, RBG Kew (CC BY 4.0); not derived here
Evidence usedThe map marker rests on all 74 georeferenced records inside the native range; the climate across the range on the 14 of them placed to within 10 km; the map shows only the 65 openly licensed ones, which alone would put the marker 954 km away. 9 records outside the WCVP native range not used. 60 in-range records are placed to worse than 10 km, or with no stated accuracy (admitted only as a person's observation to three decimals), and stay on the map but off the climate.
Other GBIF keysRecords also from GBIF's key 7588149 (Gardenia tubifera Wall.): Kew's file holds it as Gardenia tubifera Wall. (accepted); 69 records, from GBIF's search API on the day of the build.
How this section is made
The map marker: the openly licensed record nearest the middle of the densest 1° population inside the densest 4° block of the 74 in-range records; it decides nothing. Records outside the native range, living specimens and records marked introduced are not used; which records count.

Photographs

Gardenia tubifera, photograph 1did not loadGardenia tubifera, photograph 2did not loadGardenia tubifera, photograph 3did not loadGardenia tubifera, photograph 4did not loadGardenia tubifera, photograph 5did not loadGardenia tubifera, photograph 6did not load

Photographs: (c) Doreen, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Cheongweei Gan, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); Afrodita_nz, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons; Makuahine Pa'i Ki'i from Lihue, U.S.A., CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Similar habitat climate The 6 nearest by mean daily high, mean nightly low and rain, month by month. How.

Tristaniopsis whiteana Tristaniopsis whiteana River tristania Photo: CC0, Wiki FaraziSterculia oblongata Sterculia oblongata Malvaceae Photo: CC BY, Adam KamalMemecylon caeruleum Memecylon caeruleum Melastomataceae Photo: CC BY, Ben CostamagnaGarcinia nervosa Garcinia nervosa Clusiaceae Photo: CC0, author not statedAlpinia mutica Alpinia mutica Small shell ginger Photo: CC BY, Ben CostamagnaBaccaurea motleyana Baccaurea motleyana Rambai Photo: CC BY, Ong Jyh Seng

Other Gardenia 23 in the reference

Gardenia actinocarpa Gardenia actinocarpa Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, quirino Gardenia aqualla Rubiaceae Gardenia brighamii Gardenia brighamii Hawaiian gardenia Photo: CC BY-SA, Jackson MuthGardenia carinata Gardenia carinata Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Cheryl StinchcombGardenia cornuta Gardenia cornuta Horned Gardenia Photo: CC BY-SA, Tony RebeloGardenia coronaria Gardenia coronaria Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Sabarni Sarker Gardenia gjellerupii Rubiaceae Gardenia gummifera Gardenia gummifera Cumbi-gum tree Photo: CC BY, Harsha JayaramaiahGardenia imperialis Gardenia imperialis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY, Robert TaylorGardenia jasminoides Gardenia jasminoides Cape jasmine Photo: CC BY, Toby YGardenia latifolia Gardenia latifolia Indian Boxwood Photo: CC BY, Ravuri Krishna ChaitanyaGardenia mutabilis Gardenia mutabilis Rubiaceae Photo: CC BY-SA, 阿橋 HQ all 24 ›

Names & registers

GBIFPOWOIPNIWFOWikidataWikipediaiNaturalist

The record

Family
Rubiaceae
Described by
Wall.
Native to
Cambodia, Nicobar Is., Thailand +4
Wild records
74 in range · 65 open

Every figure here is derived from public data by a stated rule and names its source; nothing about this species is written for its page by a person or by AI, apart from the marked, credited quotations. How →

Where this page came from built 2026-10-22
GBIF species record gbif.species answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF's key 5334954 is Gardenia tubifera Wall. ex Roxb.; the page links Kew's Gardenia tubifera Wall., and the name is cited as Kew cites it
GBIF synonyms gbif.synonyms answeredasked 2026-10-22
GBIF common names gbif.vernacular answeredasked 2026-10-22names fetched 2026-10-22
WCVP native range wcvp.distribution answeredas of 2026-06-04
GBIF occurrence records gbif.occurrences answeredasked 2026-10-22GBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.hbdw64, of 2026-10-21; 69 records of GBIF's key 7588149, Gardenia tubifera Wall. (Kew's file holds it as Gardenia tubifera Wall. (accepted)): GBIF occurrence search API; 11 records within 1 km of a botanic garden, herbarium or zoo left out (10 at a botanic garden or arboretum, 1 at a zoo; Wikidata's list)
Habitat climate climate answeredasked 2026-10-22
Daily extremes (NASA POWER) climate.extremes answeredasked 2026-10-22NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell 1.50_111.250, lapse-corrected -38 m at 6.5 °C/km
Wikidata wikidata answeredasked 2026-10-22
Wikipedia wikipedia answeredasked 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, wild inat.photos.wild answeredasked 2026-10-22from iNaturalist's open data of 2026-09-27: research-grade observations with an open-licence photograph, the 24 whose photographs iNaturalist received last (the open data holds no votes); filled 2026-10-22
iNaturalist photographs, cultivated inat.photos.cultivated not asked
GBIF media gbif.media answeredasked 2026-10-22none of the photographs on this page is credited to GBIF: those shown are other sources', and GBIF's were the same photographs or were set aside by the photograph rules
Wikimedia Commons commons answeredasked 2026-10-22
OpenAlex papers openalex not askednot yet asked for this reference; a later fill takes the papers from OpenAlex's snapshot

Every source is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, refused, failed, not been asked, or answered twice where one answer is taken (“not taken: two items answered”), and, for a source asked when this page was built, when: the figures are as the source held them that day; a source read from a file (Kew's World Checklist, a GBIF download) says "as of" the file's day instead; a row carried from an earlier build of the page names that build instead. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 15 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.

Cultifolio

Opening your plants…