Zhi Zi

Gardenia jasminoides (Zhi Zi, cape jasmine) is an evergreen shrub in the Rubiaceae family, typically growing 1 to 3 meters tall, with smooth grayish bark and opposite, lustrous dark green, lanceolate to elliptic leaves 5 to 15 centimeters long with prominent venation and conspicuous interpetiolar stipules. The fragrant flowers are solitary, terminal, with a tubular calyx bearing 5 to 8 narrow lobes and a salverform corolla 5 to 7 centimeters across, white at first and aging cream-yellow, with a sweet jasmine-like scent. The fruits, the part used medicinally, are oblong-elliptic to obovate berries 1.5 to 3.5 centimeters long, ripening from green to a striking orange-yellow or reddish-orange, with 5 to 9 prominent longitudinal ridges and persistent calyx lobes at the apex. Inside, the pulp is yellow and contains numerous flattened reddish-orange seeds yielding the crocin pigments responsible for the dye and the bitter, cooling medicinal action. Native to East Asia, widely cultivated.