Gardenia taitensis

Native to the southwest Pacific, this plant is an evergreen tropical shrub that can reach thirteen feet tall. Its sweetly fragrant, creamy-white flowers have five to nine spreading lobes arranged like a pinwheel. It flowers throughout the year in Tahiti, where it is a floral emblem. Polynesians introduced it to the Cook Islands and French Polynesia long before European arrival. The flowers are worn in the hair and woven into leis, and are soaked in purified coconut oil to make monoï, a scented oil used on skin and hair. Male plants are often selected for cultivation and propagated by cuttings because they produce abundant flowers without fruit. Photographed in Florida.