Year of scientific publication associated with Gardenia

In 1756, one of Jane Colden’s plant identifications was published in scientific literature under the genus name Gardenia, linking her observational work to the formal taxonomic record.[2][14] The surviving sources specify the year but not the exact day of publication, yet this moment marks a rare instance in which a colonial woman’s botanical observations informed an official description and naming of a plant. Later accounts credit Colden with being the first to recognize the shrub that would bear the name Gardenia, a genus honoring Scottish physician and botanist Alexander Garden.[5][14]

Colden’s careful documentation of New York flora meant that she recorded non-native ornamental plants cultivated on the Coldengham estate as well as indigenous species. Her description of the plant later named Gardenia, shared through her father’s correspondence with Garden and other botanists, contributed to its identification and classification within Linnaeus’s system.[14][16] In a period when botanical naming and credit overwhelmingly favored male naturalists, this association demonstrates the scientific weight of her fieldwork and manuscript.

The 1756 publication year is historically significant for Colden because it shows that her work did not remain entirely confined to domestic manuscripts. Although she did not appear as a named author, the botanical community drew on her observations, embedding her contributions in the emerging global taxonomy of plants. For women in eighteenth-century science, such indirect influence was often the only available path to participation. The Gardenia connection has since become a focal point in narratives about her career, illustrating both the reach of her expertise and the structural limits on her public recognition.