Gardenia brighamii H.Mann - Rubiaceae - naʻu, nānū, forest gardenia, Hawaiian gardenia, Hawaii-Gardenie

Critically endangered small tree, up to 5m tall, endemic to Hawaii; leaves ovate, glossy, dark green, up to 10cm long; flowers white, petals fused at the base to form a tube (up to 2.5cm long); fruit a large green globe about the size of a golf ball.

„Small flowers about 2 inches across resemble puakenikeni in petal shape. Their scent is like that of the larger bushy, non-native gardenia, with a hint of coconut oil… They were once believed to have existed on all of the main islands in the dry forest, but now only two plants remain in the wild on Oahu, one on the Big Island, a few on Molokai, a handful on Lanai and a few more on Maui - numbering about 15 to 20 plants in total.“ https://archives.starbulletin.com/2006/09/08/features/garden.html

The flowers „…open in the late afternoon and emit then for a aday an attractive and strong white-floral fragrance, similar to that of the Gardenia taitensis, but lighter and more elegant.“
A headspace analysis of the flowers showed methyl benzoate (41.2%), (3Z)-hex-3-enyl benzoate (12.9%), indole (7.2%), jasmine lactone (6.8%; 'jasmine, lactonic coconut-peachy'), (E)-nerolidol (5.1%), and (3Z)-hex-3-enyl tiglate (3.7%) as main components.
[Scent of a vanishing flora, Roman Kaiser, 2011, 25-26 and 361-362]

Nānū, nāʻū or Forest gardenia Rubiaceae Endemic to the Hawaiian Islands Endangered Oʻahu (Cultivated; origin: Oʻahu*) (2009) CC BY-SA 2.0, Author: David Eickhoff from Pearl City, Hawaii, USA Wikimedia Commons