''Jasminum angustifolium'', the wild jasmine, is a species of

jasmine Jasmine ( taxonomic name: ''Jasminum''; , ) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are widely cultiva ...

native to India, Sri Lanka and the

Andaman Islands The Andaman Islands () are an archipelago in the northeastern Indian Ocean about southwest off the coasts of Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Region. Together with the Nicobar Islands to their south, the Andamans serve as a maritime boundary between th ...

. It is a climbing shrub with a smooth stem and minutely pubescent branchlets. The flowers are approximately in diameter, and resemble a star with seven or eight narrow petals, flowering between June and August. This flower, along with ''

Jasminum grandiflorum ''Jasminum grandiflorum'', also known variously as the Spanish jasmine, Royal jasmine, Catalan jasmine, among others, is a species of jasmine native to South Asia, the Arabian peninsula, East and Northeast Africa and the Yunnan and Sichuan region ...

'', play a central role in Buddhist and Hindu temple floral offerings and garlands.

Etymology

'Jasminum' is a

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

ized form of the

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

word 'yasemin', for sweetly scented plants.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 220

References

angustifolium Flora of Sri Lanka Flora of India (region) Flora of the Andaman Islands Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Oleaceae-stub