Gardenia brighamii

Botanical Description

Gardenia brighamii is a tree growing up to about 5 metres tall with fragrant, white flowers[ 353 Title Hawaii's Species of Greatest Conservation Need Publication Author Website http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/cwcs/Conservation_need.htm#Species Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A series of fact sheets produced by the state Government of Hawaii giving information on some of the most endangered species on the Islands. ]. The fruits are gathered from the wild and used as a dye[ 46 Title Dictionary of Economic Plants. Publication Author Uphof. J. C. Th. Publisher Weinheim Year 1959 ISBN - Description An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader. ]. At one time this was a popular dye plant for local use, being commonly harvested all over the main islands of Hawaii. Judging from its use by the Hawaiians as a cloth dye, its habitat, associated species, and distribution in the early 1900s, it was probably a relatively common member of the lowland dry forest. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was considered common on west Moloka‘i and Maui, but already either extirpated or very rare on the other islands[ 353 Title Hawaii's Species of Greatest Conservation Need Publication Author Website http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/cwcs/Conservation_need.htm#Species Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A series of fact sheets produced by the state Government of Hawaii giving information on some of the most endangered species on the Islands. ]. The total known wild population (as of 2005) is now less than 20 individuals. It is estimated that there are now less than 100 wild plants in total[ 353 Title Hawaii's Species of Greatest Conservation Need Publication Author Website http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/cwcs/Conservation_need.htm#Species Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A series of fact sheets produced by the state Government of Hawaii giving information on some of the most endangered species on the Islands. ]. The plant's current habitat has been severely degraded by cattle and goats. The invasion of alien plants such as lantana and a variety of grasses has crowded out much of the dry forest and shades out any seedlings that may have evaded predation from rats[ 353 Title Hawaii's Species of Greatest Conservation Need Publication Author Website http://www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dofaw/cwcs/Conservation_need.htm#Species Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A series of fact sheets produced by the state Government of Hawaii giving information on some of the most endangered species on the Islands. ]. The plant is classified as 'Critically Endangered' in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species(2011)[ 338 Title IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Publication Author Website http://www.iucnredlist.org/ Publisher Year 0 ISBN Description A list of plants under threat and facing possible extinction, usually with brief details of the threats and information on habitat. ].