Gardenias

I love Gardenias.

They are just about my favorite flower.  Honey’s favorite perfume has a Gardenia scent.  We had Gardenias in the yard when I was a kid, and here at the Boggy Thicket the front of our house is lined with a bed of Cape Jasmine Gardenias.

So – it is really hard to explain why I never noticed until this month that Gardenia’s bear fruit.

In retrospect, I think I actually noticed one last year, but didn’t realize what it was.  This year, our plants retained dozens of the bright red fruit – it was hard to miss.

A little on-line investigation reveals that the pods contain hundreds of seeds.  The seeds are edible, sometimes used instead of saffron as a yellow dye in oriental cooking.

They are also commonly used in Chinese medicine.  An article by Chinese Physician Yang Yifan makes it sound like a miracle drug:

Gardenia is bitter and cold and enters the heart, lung, and triple burner meridians. Bitterness and cold may clear heat and descend fire. Gardenia can gently and slowly direct heat downwards from the upper burner. It can also promote urination and leach out heat from the heart and lung. It can be used for heat accumulation in the chest, irritability, restlessness, sensations of tightness in the chest, and insomnia.

As the triple burner is the passage not only of qi, but also of water, gardenia enters the triple burner meridian and regulates its function. As bitterness can dry dampness and cold can clear heat, this herb can be used to treat damp-heat syndrome in all three burners-for example, infections of the eyes or eczema on the face and neck caused by damp-heat of the upper burner; jaundice due to damp-heat in the middle burner and qi constraint of the liver and gallbladder; or painful urinary dysfunction due to damp-heat in the lower burner which disturbs the function of the bladder.

Gardenia also has the function of cooling the blood and relieving heat-poison. It can be used in different bleeding conditions, such as nosebleed, hematemesis, and blood in the urine. It can also be applied topically for burns.