I have featured this rather pre-historic looking tree (rather, its hard woody fruits appear as if they would be more at home in an environment where large crunching jaws could break them open) twice before. There are two Gardenia thunbergia growing in a small triangle of what used to be a park about a block away from where I live and so I have been keeping a close eye on them for when their flowers appear. Two years later, I realise I must have missed the initial blooming after the rain for here you can see that many of the flowers have already faded to brown. There are buds waiting to unfurl above the open flower and you can glimpse one of the hard fruits in the background. These enormous fruits are so hard that, apart from human intervention, the seeds are only dispersed through the gut of an animal such as an elephant, buffalo or kudu.
Here is a closer look at these elegantly furled creamy-green buds.
The white saucer-shaped flowers are lightly scented during the day and more heavily scented during the evening, attracting moths especially, although birds also probably play a role in their pollination. All the flowers I could see on this particular bush had more than one kind of insect on them too.
The flowers fade quickly.
Yet are very beautiful while they last!
I note with interest that the common name for this shrub in Afrikaans is listed in the Field Guide to Trees of Southern Africa by Braam van Wyk and Piet van Wyk as Witkatjiepiering – a change from the Buffelsbal recorded in earlier resources.
Something Over Tea 
Probably a cousin of the much tamer, very fragrant Gardenia Jasminoides. My mother’s garden was fragrant with just two of those. This one does look similar.
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I have just looked up that plant and can imagine the delightful fragrance it exudes.
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It is called Anant, which means Everlasting. Apt name for the fragrance!
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Thank you for another fascinating botanical lesson
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It has been a long wait to see these flowers!
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For a moment I thought you were writing about Climate Change! (Greta Thunberg) 🙂
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It is probably climate change that has led to the drought that has led to the paucity of flowers that has led to me only seeing them two years after first posting about this fascinating plant …
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Very interesting
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I am pleased that you find it so.
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Beautiful, and I was so taken with your description of them as prehistoric and designed for big crunching jaws.
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These large, woody fruits stay on the trees for years.
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Another amazing aspect of these trees!
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Oe mooi, mooi!
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Die blomme is baie mooi en ruik nogal soet.
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Soos katjiepiering?
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Ja 🙂
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Ek gaan dit moet ruik.
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I always look forward to your posts and enjoy learning more about the beautiful continent I love so much.
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Thank you very much indeed.
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A lovely waxy flower. I can almost imagine the fragrance!
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It is fairly delicate
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I am familiar with the indoor variety of gardenias; it’s interesting to learn about this impressive tree and its beautiful flowers.
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I am glad to have introduced it to you, Belinda.
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I like a flower with an evening scent. It makes a day end well.
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It certainly does.
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Buffelsbal! 😀
“Witkatjiepiering” seems fair, but then again all Katjiepiering blooms are white, or am I mistaken?
Still, “a rose by any other name”.
Buffelsbal. Ha ha ha!
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I thought you might pick up on that one, Dries 🙂
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I love the sweet smell of the flowers in the evening. Beautiful flower
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It is so good to hear from you again!
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The blooms are indeed elegant. I see that the bugs like them too.
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Nearly every flower had an insect or two on it from flies and beetles to ants.
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