Atractocarpus benthamianus is a species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

 in the Rubiaceae

Rubiaceae

The Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, variously called the coffee family, madder family, or bedstraw family. The group contains many commonly known plants, including the economically important coffee , quinine , and gambier , and the horticulturally valuable madder , west indian jasmine ,...

 family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 growing in eastern Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It is an understorey species of subtropical and tropical rainforest on fertile soils. The natural range of distribution is from the Forster, New South Wales

Forster, New South Wales

Forster is a large coastal town in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Great Lakes Council LGA, about north-north-east of Sydney. It is immediately adjacent to its twin, Tuncurry, which is the smaller of the two towns...

 (32° S) to central Queensland

Queensland

Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...

. This plant features beautifully scented flowers.

Description

It grows as a woody shrub or small tree and reaches 8 m (25 ft) tall. The trunk does not form buttresses but may be crooked, and is covered by smooth grey bark with horizontal markings and long lenticels. The new growth is hairy in plants found north of Coffs Harbour

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales

-History:By the early 1900s, the Coffs Harbour area had become an important timber production centre. Before the opening of the North Coast Railway Line, the only way to transport large items of heavy but low value, such as timber, was by coastal shipping. This meant sawmillers on the North Coast...

 (30° S) . The large glossy dark green leaves are obovate to lanceolate and range from 8-20 cm (3-8 in) long by 2-4 cm wide, and arranged in whorls of 3-4 on the branches. The veins and midrib are prominent on the leaf. The small white fragrant flowers appear from June to November, occur in clusters of two or three and have five lanceolate petals around a tube. The orange oval-shaped fruit ripens in May to September, and bears 14-18 seeds in a pulp. The fragrance of the flowers has been likened to that of the common gardenia

Gardenia jasminoides

Gardenia jasminoides, is a fragrant flowering evergreen tropical plant, a favorite in gardens worldwide. It originated in Asia and is most commonly found growing in Vietnam, Southern China, Taiwan, Japan and India...

.

Distribution and habitat

The range is from Forster (32° S) on the New South Wales mid-north coast north through to Nambour (26° S) in Queensland. It is found in warm temperate to subtropical rainforests in areas of wetter climate.

Uses

Its bushy lush foliage, fragrant flowers and colourful fruit give it horticultural potential in gardens in warm temperate and subtropical climates. It is suited to a shady position in gardens, or moderately to brightly lit indoor spaces.

Taxonomy

Atractocarpus benthamianus was originally described by German naturalist and Victorian State Botanist Ferdinand von Mueller

Ferdinand von Mueller

Baron Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller, KCMG was a German-Australian physician, geographer, and most notably, a botanist.-Early life:...

, who named it in honour of the botanist George Bentham

George Bentham

George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...

, who wrote Flora Australiensis in 1870. It is commonly known as native gardenia.

Known for many years as Randia benthamiana, it gained its current binomial name in 1999 with the publishing of a genus revision by botanists Christopher Puttock and Christopher Quinn.