It finally bloomed today!

My neighbor moved three years ago and left this plant. We thought it was dead, but decided to keep the pot. Later on we noticed growth and began to take care of the plant. It finally bloomed today! It has a wonderful fragrance like a gardenia, but we have never seen one like this. The leaves are very glossy and some measure over 3" wide by 6" long. The flower is rather flat with ruffled edges. It measures about 2-1/2" across and has a yellow throat. It has woody, bright tan colored trunks which are unlike any gardenia with which we are familiar. Can anyone identify this plant?

Gardenia "elvii" ? Just kidding,I have no idea what the plant is. I'm sure that someone wil identify it for you.

Thank ya...thank ya very much! :)

Gosh that looks so much like what we called in Hawaii "Tahitian Gardenias".

Does it have a gardenia fragrance? (very pretty whatever it is)

Could it be a Brug? Angel Trumpet is another name for it. I may be totally wrong, but I know they smell very good and it seems to have leaves like one. Post it on the Brug forum and see.

The Tahitian Gardenia (Gardenia taitensis) is as close as we've seen to our plant. The difference is ours has a yellow throat and the Tahitian has a protruding yellow staman. Also, the petals on ours slightly overlap rather than having separation as the Tahitian. Perhaps ours is variant?

We're sure it's not a brug. It does have a very pronounced gardenia fragrance. It has been a pleasant surprise. We've tried to grow gardenias with little success (mainly due to the alkaline soil in our area we think). This one is in a pot and looks absolutely fabulous...and about all we've done is water it occasionally!

It looks like it might be a Pikake or Jasminium Sambac. How big is the flower? I can't tell from the picture, but if it is 1 1/2 to 2 inches then it looks very much like my Pikake. Heavenly scent.

I had several pikake plants in my yard in Hawaii. The buds were rounded and white, with a heavy fragrance. The leaves were not glossy. But, I don't know all the different pikake plants.

Yes....I have several, and they are different. But I do have one with large glossy leaves like the one in the picture here....no expert though, just a suggestion.

Really? I would love to see a picture. I really miss home and all the plants there. Especially miss the cool tradewinds flowing thru the house. How's the fishing there? I use to love going papio fishing with my dad. I miss him too.

Loren

Loren...check out the Tropical Gardening forum.....tons of pics there. Happy to have you join us....