Gardenia taitensis DC.
Siale, Tahitian Gardenia, Tiale, Tiaré flower
Every figure on this page is derived from public data by a stated rule and says its source; nothing here is written by a person or a model, except the Wikipedia passage, which is quoted and marked as such. How it is made.
Summary
Gardenia taitensis, also called Tahitian gardenia or tiaré flower, is a species of plant in the family Rubiaceae. It is an evergreen tropical shrub that grows to 4 m (10 ft) tall and has glossy dark green leaves that are 5–16 cm (2–6 in) long and are oppositely arranged along the stem. The flower is creamy white and pinwheel-shaped with 5–9 lobes, each 2–4 cm (0.8–2 in) long and fragrant. Native to the highland shores of the South Pacific, it has the distinction of being one of the few cultivated plants native to Polynesia. More on Wikipedia ›
The opening of Wikipedia, “Gardenia taitensis”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written. Kept separate from everything derived here.
About the genus · Gardenia
Gardenia is a genus of flowering plants in the coffee family, Rubiaceae, native to the tropical and subtropical regions of Africa, Asia, Madagascar, Pacific Islands, and Australia.
Text from Wikipedia, “Gardenia”, CC BY-SA 4.0, quoted as written.
At a glance
Also known as Gardenia florida G.Forst.; Gardenia tahitensis DC.; Gardenia tahitensis DC. ex Drake; Gardenia taitensis f. genuina Reinecke; Gardenia taitensis f. minor Reinecke and 1 more.
Cultivation
Its year Rain rule: a sharp rainy season, November to May at the habitat (not shifted); the temperature curve is flat (3.1 °C of range), so no growing season is inferred.
This species’ habitat figures, and what two fixed rules read from them.
The rain rule reads a sharp season: 70% of the year's rain (2075 mm of 2860 mm) falls in November to May. The temperature curve is flat, 3.1 °C between the warmest and coldest month, so the growing-season rule does not infer a growing season from it. Months are the habitat's, southern hemisphere; with a flat temperature curve there is no season to reverse, so they are not shifted for a collection elsewhere.
Read from the median year of CHELSA monthly rainfall and mean temperature across the envelope cells: the rain rule takes the smallest set of months carrying 70% of the rain and calls it winter when its mean is more than half a degree below the year's, summer when more than that above, and neither in between; the temperature rule, used only under 120 mm, names the cooler six months when they are at least a degree cooler than the other six. Months are shifted for the other hemisphere only where the temperature curve gives a season to reverse. A reading of the curves, not an observation of the plant.
Rain Habitat rain 2860 mm a year, wettest January at 340 mm, driest July at 133 mm (habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
2860 mm a year at the habitat, 2075 mm of it November to May. Wettest month January at 340 mm, driest July at 133 mm. Across the envelope cells the year's total runs 1850 mm to 4386 mm (10th to 90th percentile of each cell's own year) (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; habitat calendar, southern hemisphere).
CHELSA monthly precipitation, median year across the envelope cells. The rain that falls where the species is recorded; nothing about how the plant takes water.
Light Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 40 mol/m²/day.
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Open sky over the habitat: 26 to 40 mol/m²/day across the year (daily light integral, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA; the lowest 10th-percentile month across the cells is 23, the highest 90th-percentile month 43).
CHELSA shortwave radiation at each envelope cell, a daily-mean flux taken to a daily total and converted at 2.07 mol of PAR per MJ. The sky over the habitat, measured; what reaches a plant under a rock, a shrub or a shade cloth is not.
Warmth and air Cold floor 21.7 °C (1st-percentile habitat night, NASA POWER).
This species’ habitat figures, with their source.
Coldest: the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell is 21.7 °C, the absolute minimum 20.2 °C, no frost in 44 years (NASA POWER daily minima). Warmest: the 99th-percentile day is 28.7 °C. Monthly means: coldest night 23.1 °C in August (across the envelope cells 21.0 °C to 25.4 °C), warmest day 27.7 °C in February (median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). Cold floor: 21.7 °C, which is the 1st-percentile night over 44 years at the typical cell (NASA POWER).
NASA POWER daily minima and maxima 1981–2024 at the typical cell, lapse-corrected to its elevation; CHELSA monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA. The cold floor is the figure named in its sentence. Not a measured survival limit for any plant in a pot.
Relative humidity at the habitat: 62 to 65% across the year (monthly means, median year across the envelope cells, CHELSA). A figure about the air, saying nothing about how the plant takes water.
CHELSA relative humidity, median year across the envelope cells.
The figures the cards read from are in Climate below, and where they came from in Natural habitat.
Climate across the habitat
Figures by month
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Day °C | 28 / 26–28 | 28 / 26–28 | 28 / 26–28 | 28 / 25–28 | 27 / 24–28 | 26 / 24–27 | 26 / 23–27 | 26 / 22–27 | 26 / 23–27 | 26 / 23–27 | 27 / 24–28 | 27 / 25–28 |
| Night °C | 26 / 24–26 | 26 / 24–26 | 26 / 24–26 | 26 / 24–26 | 25 / 23–26 | 24 / 22–26 | 23 / 21–26 | 23 / 21–25 | 23 / 21–25 | 24 / 22–26 | 25 / 23–26 | 25 / 24–26 |
| Rain mm | 340 / 245–532 | 325 / 238–477 | 327 / 233–445 | 297 / 211–390 | 222 / 142–347 | 163 / 102–235 | 133 / 70–248 | 136 / 94–230 | 161 / 82–294 | 192 / 104–369 | 247 / 113–413 | 317 / 172–505 |
| DLI | 38 / 36–42 | 38 / 36–40 | 36 / 35–37 | 32 / 31–33 | 28 / 26–30 | 26 / 23–28 | 27 / 24–29 | 31 / 28–33 | 36 / 33–37 | 39 / 38–40 | 40 / 38–42 | 40 / 37–43 |
| RH % | 65 / 64–70 | 65 / 64–70 | 65 / 64–70 | 65 / 62–70 | 63 / 60–68 | 63 / 60–67 | 62 / 58–65 | 62 / 59–65 | 63 / 60–66 | 64 / 60–68 | 64 / 62–69 | 65 / 63–70 |
Each figure is the median across the 25 grid cells holding the 30 in-range records, with the 10th–90th percentile span across those cells after the slash where it differs. Extremes and elevation were read at the typical cell 2163:23 (-18.175, -178.825). Over 44 years there: absolute minimum 20.2 °C, 1st-percentile night 21.7 °C, 99th-percentile day 28.7 °C. Normals: CHELSA V2.1 1981–2010 climatology, 0.05° cells (each the mean of ~36 1 km pixels). Envelope: median and 10th–90th percentile of each month across the 25 distinct grid cells holding the 30 in-range records; extremes and elevation at the typical cell 2163:23 (its coldest month's mean night nearest the median across cells); its position is the cell centre. Extremes: NASA POWER (MERRA-2) daily 1981–2024, cell -18.00_-178.750, lapse-corrected +57 m at 6.5 °C/km. Elevation: ETOPO 2022, 58 m (cell mean).
Natural habitat
Photographs
Photographs: (c) Rachael Kaiser, some rights reserved (CC BY) (4); (c) Leon Perrie, some rights reserved (CC BY) (2); (c) Eric Knight, some rights reserved (CC BY); (c) Antoine MARNAT, some rights reserved (CC BY).
Photographs: iNaturalist did not answer when this page was built; what is shown came from the sources that did.
Papers naming this species
Works whose title or abstract names Gardenia taitensis, most cited first, from OpenAlex (CC0). A mention, not a cultivation source: nothing on this page is drawn from them.
Related
Similar habitat climate the 6 species whose habitat climate is nearest this one's: mean day and night, month by month, and rain on a log scale, in calendar order, so a habitat with the same seasons six months out is far, not near. Nothing else counts: not range, not family.
Pseuderanthemum maculatum Golden Pseuderanthemum
Polyscias scutellaria Shield Aralia
Epipremnum aureum Devil's Ivy
Nepenthes pervillei Seychelles Pitcher-plant
Cocos nucifera Coconut
Polyscias fruticosa Ming AraliaOther Gardenia 2 in the reference
History & registers
Where this page came from built 2026-09-20 · dossier v2 · node
gbif.species answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.synonyms answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)gbif.vernacular answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (offline re-derivation; the backbone was not asked)wcvp.distribution answeredgbif.occurrences answeredGBIF occurrence download https://doi.org/10.15468/dl.3h4zamclimate answeredwikidata answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)wikipedia answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.taxon not askedinat.photos.wild answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedinat.photos.cultivated nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)commons nothing to reportcarried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive); that build: carried from build of 2026-09-19 (rederive)gbif.media answeredopenalex answeredcarried from build of 2026-09-19; this build: skippedEvery upstream is recorded as having answered, reported nothing, or refused. Only “nothing to report” is ever shown as an absence. Records came from 32 datasets via GBIF.org; each carries its own licence.








