''Osmanthus fragrans'' (lit. "fragrant osmanthus"; Chinese: , ''guìhuā'', and , ''mùxī''; ; Shanghainese: ''kue³⁵ ho⁵³''; ja, 木犀, ''mokusei''; hi, , ''silang''), variously known as sweet osmanthus, sweet olive, tea olive, and fragrant olive, is a species native to Asia from the

Himalayas The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over ...

through South China (

Guizhou Guizhou (; formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked province in the southwest region of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the province. Guizhou borders the autonomous region of Guangxi to t ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

and

Yunnan Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the ...

) to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northe ...

, southern Japan and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

as far south as

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailan ...

and

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

.Flora of China
''Osmanthus fragrans''
/ref>Flora of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

''Osmanthus fragrans''
/ref> In China, it is the "city flower" of the cities of

Hangzhou Hangzhou ( or , ; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ), also romanized as Hangchow, is the capital and most populous city of Zhejiang, China. It is located in the northwestern part of the province, sitting at the head of Hangzhou Bay, wh ...

Zhejiang Zhejiang ( or , ; , also romanized as Chekiang) is an eastern, coastal province of the People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Hangzhou, and other notable cities include Ningbo and Wenzhou. Zhejiang is bordered by ...

;

Suzhou Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trad ...

Jiangsu Jiangsu (; ; pinyin: Jiāngsū, alternatively romanized as Kiangsu or Chiangsu) is an eastern coastal province of the People's Republic of China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its c ...

; and

Guilin Guilin (Standard Zhuang: ''Gveilinz''; alternatively romanized as Kweilin) is a prefecture-level city in the northeast of China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. It is situated on the west bank of the Li River and borders Hunan to the n ...

, Guangxi. In Japan, it is the "city tree" of Kitanagoya, Aichi Prefecture and

Beppu is a city in Ōita Prefecture on the island of Kyushu, Japan. As of March 31, 2017, the city had a population of 122,643

, Ōita Prefecture, and the "town tree" of Yoshitomi, Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture.

Growth

It is an

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

shrub or small tree growing to tall. The leaves are long and broad, with an entire or finely toothed margin. The flowers are white, pale yellow, yellow, or orange-yellow, small, about long, with a four-lobed

corolla Corolla may refer to: *Corolla (botany), the petals of a flower, considered as a unit *Toyota Corolla, an automobile model name * Corolla (headgear), an ancient headdress in the form of a circlet or crown * ''Corolla'' (gastropod), a genus of moll ...

diameter, and have a strong fragrance; they are produced in small clusters in the late summer and autumn. The fruit is a purple-black

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kerne ...

long containing a single hard-shelled seed; it is mature in the spring about six months after flowering.Mitomori
''Osmanthus fragrans''
(in Japanese

Huxley, A., ed. (1992). ''New RHS Dictionary of Gardening''. Macmillan .

Cultivation

It is cultivated as an ornamental plant in East Asian gardens, and gardens in Europe, North America, and elsewhere in the world for its deliciously fragrant flowers which carry the scent of ripe

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non- ...

es or apricots. A number of

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture ...

s have been selected for garden use, with varying flower colors, such as ''Osmanthus fragrans'' 'Yanhua' with its variegated foliage and orange blooms. Within Japan, the white- and orange-blossoming subspecies are distinguished as ''ginmokusei'' (, lit. "silver osmanthus") and ''kinmokusei'' (, lit. "gold osmanthus"), respectively.

Uses

Culinary

In Chinese cuisine, its flowers may be infused with

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 Nanometre, nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by ...

or black tea leaves to create osmanthus tea (桂花茶, ''guìhuāchá''). The flowers are also used to produce osmanthus-scented jam (, ''guìhuājiàng''), osmanthus cakes (, ''guìhuāgāo''), dumplings, soups, and osmanthus liquor (, ''guìhuājiǔ''). Osmanthus jam is used as an ingredient in a type of gruel called ''

chátāng ''Chatang'' () or seasoned flour mush is a traditional gruel common to both Beijing cuisine and Tianjin cuisine, and often sold as a snack on the street. It is made from sorghum flour and/or broomcorn millet and/or proso millet flour and glutino ...

'' (), which is made from

sorghum ''Sorghum'' () is a genus of about 25 species of flowering plants in the grass family ( Poaceae). Some of these species are grown as cereals for human consumption and some in pastures for animals. One species is grown for grain, while many ot ...

millet Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets ...

flour and sugar mixed with boiling water. This dish is associated with the northern city of Tianjin, although it may also be found in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Osmanthus is also used for making many traditional Chinese desserts, such as osmanthus tangyuan with rice wine syrup (桂花酒釀湯圓). Sweet Tea Olive Cake

Repellent

In some regions of

North India North India is a loosely defined region consisting of the northern part of India. The dominant geographical features of North India are the Indo-Gangetic Plain and the Himalayas, which demarcate the region from the Tibetan Plateau and Centr ...

, especially in the state of

Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; List of renamed places in India, the official name until 2007), is a States and union territories of India, state in the North India, northern part of India. It is often referred to as t ...

, the flowers of sweet osmanthus are used to protect clothes from insects.A manual of Indian timbers: an account of the growth, distribution, and uses of the trees and shrubs of India and Ceylon, with descriptions of their wood-structure
James Sykes Gamble, S. Low, Marston & Co, 1922, ''... Osmanthus, Lour ... A very sweet scented tree, the flowers having the scent of apricots. These flowers are used in China to flavour tea and in Kumaon to protect clothes from insects ...''

Medicinal

traditional Chinese medicine Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an alternative medicine, alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. It has been described as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logica ...

, osmanthus tea has been used as an herbal tea for the treatment of irregular menstruation. The extract of dried flowers showed neuroprotective, free-radical scavenging,

antioxidative Antioxidants are Chemical compound, compounds that inhibit Redox, oxidation, a chemical reaction that can produce Radical (chemistry), free radicals. This can lead to polymerization and other chain reactions. They are frequently added to indust ...

effects in ''

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology and ...

'' assays.

Cultural associations

From the occasion of its blossoming, the sweet osmanthus is closely associated with the Chinese

Mid-Autumn Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (Chinese language, Chinese: / ), also known as the Moon Festival or Mooncake Festival, is a traditional festival celebrated in Chinese culture. Similar holidays are celebrated in Japan (), Korea (), Vietnam (), and othe ...

. Osmanthus wine is a traditional choice for the "reunion wine" drunk with one's family, and osmanthus-flavored confections and teas may also be consumed. Chinese mythology held that a sweet osmanthus grows on the moon and was endlessly cut by Wu Gang: some versions held that he was forced to cut it every 1000 years lest its luxuriant growth overshadow the moon itself, others that he was obliged to cut it constantly only to see it regrow an equal amount every day.Eberhard, Wolfram. ''Dictionary of Chinese Symbols: Hidden Symbols in Chinese Life and Thought''
pp. 76 ff
Routledge & Kegan Paul (London), 2013. Accessed 12 November 2013. In late imperial China, the osmanthus was also associated with the

imperial examination The imperial examination (; lit. "subject recommendation") refers to a civil-service examination system in Imperial China, administered for the purpose of selecting candidates for the state bureaucracy. The concept of choosing bureaucrats by ...

s, which were held in the 8th lunar month. The '' chengyu'' "pluck osmanthus in the

Toad Toad is a common name for certain frogs, especially of the family Bufonidae, that are characterized by dry, leathery skin, short legs, and large bumps covering the parotoid glands. A distinction between frogs and toads is not made in scient ...

Palace" (, ''Chángōng zhé guì'') was a refined paraphrase for "passing the exam",Brendon, Juliet & al. ''The Moon Year: A Record of Chinese Customs and Festivals''
p. 410
Kelly & Walsh, 1927. Reprinted Routledge (Abingdon), 2011. Accessed 13 November 2013.

u Jinfang U or u, is the twenty-first and sixth-to-last letter and fifth vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''u'' (pro ...

br>
A Dictionary of Chinese Idioms in the ''Dream of the Red Chamber''"">Dream_of_the_Red_Chamber.html" ;"title="A Dictionary of Chinese Idioms in the ''Dream of the Red Chamber">A Dictionary of Chinese Idioms in the ''Dream of the Red Chamber''" 2003. Accessed 13 November 2013. & in part since one would attract hangers-on as if he smelled as sweet as osmanthus thereafter. "Breaking the osmanthus twig and mounting the dragon" was another euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...