ရင်ခတ်

Myanmar Name – Yin khat

Common Name – Golden Gardenia

Botanical Name – Gardenia sootepnsis Hutch.

Family Name – Rubiaceae

Habitat – Tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of Africa, Asia, and Oceania. They thrive in warm, humid climates and are often grown as ornamental plants in gardens and landscapes.

Habit – Evergreen trees, 9 m tall, known for their glossy, dark green leaves and fragrant white or yellow flowers.

Bark – Usually smooth and gray to brown in color.

Leaves – Leaves opposite; petiole 0.6-1.2 cm, puberulent or tomentulose; blade drying papery or thinly leathery, obovate, obovate-elliptic, broadly elliptic, or elliptic-oblong, 7-29 × 3-16 cm, adaxially puberulent or pilosulous to glabrous, abaxially densely tomentose, base rounded to obtuse or cuneate, apex shortly acuminate with tip acute or obtuse; secondary veins 12-20 pairs, in abaxial axils often with densely pilosulous domatia; stipules calyptrate, conical, 0.5-1 cm.

Inflorescence – Solitary or clustered inflorescences, often at the ends of branches.

Flower – Flowers pseudoaxillary usually near branch apices, solitary; peduncle 1-1.5 cm, puberulent. Calyx densely puberulent to pilosulous externally; ovary portion ellipsoid, smooth, 5-6 mm; limb spathaceous, 13-15 mm, splitting along one side for 2/3-3/4 of its length, inside sericeous, often viscid or mucilaginous. Corolla yellow or white.

Fruit – Berry ellipsoid or ellipsoid-oblong, 2.5-5.5 × 1.5-3.5 cm, puberulent, smooth or with 5 or 6 longitudinal lines or very weak ridges, leathery to hard.

Seed – Small and brown, seeds suborbicular, flattened, 3-4 mm in diam, foveolate.

Flowering and Fruiting Time – Flowering from April to July and fruiting from August to October.

Usage – Because of the beauty of the flower, it is grown as an ornamental plant in gardens and parks, and used in the production of perfume as a cosmetic product.