''Jasminum officinale'', known as the common jasmine or simply jasmine, is a species of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants t ...

in the olive

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Oleaceae. It is native to the Caucasus and parts of Asia, also widely naturalized. It is also known as summer jasmine, poet's jasmine, white jasmine, true jasmine or jessamine, and is particularly valued by gardeners throughout the temperate world for the intense fragrance of its flowers in summer. It is also the National flower 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 ...

Description

''Jasminum officinale'' is a vigorous, twining

deciduous In the fields of horticulture and Botany, the term ''deciduous'' () means "falling off at maturity" and "tending to fall off", in reference to trees and shrubs that seasonally shed leaves, usually in the autumn; to the shedding of petals, ...

climber with sharply pointed

pinnate Pinnation (also called pennation) is the arrangement of feather-like or multi-divided features arising from both sides of a common axis. Pinnation occurs in biological morphology, in crystals, such as some forms of ice or metal crystals, an ...

leaves and clusters of starry, pure white flowers in summer, which are the source of its heady scent. The leaf has 5 to 9 leaflets.

Etymology

The Latin specific epithet ''officinale'' means "useful".

Distribution

It is found in the Caucasus, northern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Himalayas, Tajikistan, India, Nepal and western China (

Guizhou Guizhou (; Postal romanization, formerly Kweichow) is a landlocked Provinces of China, province in the Southwest China, southwest region of the China, People's Republic of China. Its capital and largest city is Guiyang, in the center of the pr ...

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 t ...

, Xizang (Tibet),

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 ...

). The species is also widely cultivated in many places, and is reportedly naturalized in Spain, France, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Algeria, Florida and the West Indies.

Chemical composition

It has alkaloids, coumarins, flavonoids, tannins, terpenoids, glycosides, emodine, leucoanthcyanins, steroids, anthocyanins, phlobatinins, essential oil and saponins.

Garden history

''Jasminum officinale'' is so ancient in cultivation that its country of origin, though somewhere in

Central Asia Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes the fo ...

, is not certain. H.L. Li, ''The Garden Flowers of China'', notes that in the third century CE, jasmines identifiable as ''J. officinale'' and '' J. sambac'' were recorded among "foreign" plants in Chinese texts, and that in ninth-century Chinese texts ''J. officinale'' was said to come from Byzantium. Its Chinese name, ''Yeh-hsi-ming'' is a version of the Persian and Arabic name. Its entry into European gardens was most likely through the Arab-Norman culture of Sicily, but, as the garden historian John Harvey has said, "surprisingly little is known, historically or archaeologically, of the cultural life of pre-Norman Sicily". In the mid-14th century the Florentine Boccaccio in his ''

Decameron ''The Decameron'' (; it, label= Italian, Decameron or ''Decamerone'' ), subtitled ''Prince Galehaut'' (Old it, Prencipe Galeotto, links=no ) and sometimes nicknamed ''l'Umana commedia'' ("the Human comedy", as it was Boccaccio that dubbed Da ...

'' describes a walled garden in which "the sides of the alleys were all, as it were, walled in with roses white and red and jasmine; insomuch that there was no part of the garden but one might walk there not merely in the morning but at high noon in grateful shade." Jasmine water also features in the story of Salabaetto in the ''Decameron''. ''Jasminum officinale'', "of the household office" where perfumes were distilled, was so thoroughly naturalized that Linnaeus thought it was native to Switzerland. As a garden plant in London it features in William Turner's ''Names of Herbes'', 1548. Double forms, here as among many flowers, were treasured in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Cultivars

Numerous cultivars have been developed for garden use, often with

variegated Variegation is the appearance of differently coloured zones in the leaves and sometimes the stems and fruit of plants. Species with variegated individuals are sometimes found in the understory of tropical rainforests, and this habitat is the ...

foliage. The cultivar 'Argenteovariegatum', with cream-white variegation on the leaves, has gained the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

Award of Garden Merit The Award of Garden Merit (AGM) is a long-established annual award for plants by the British Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). It is based on assessment of the plants' performance under UK growing conditions. History The Award of Garden Merit ...

Aromatherapy and herbal medicine

The

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...

of ''Jasminum officinale'' is used in aromatherapy. Jasmine absolute is known as the 'King of Oils', and its heavy, sweet scent is loved by most people. The flowers release their perfume at dusk, so flowers are picked at night and a tiny amount of oil is obtained by solvent extraction. The result is a very expensive oil, but it can be used in low concentrations so it is not that uneconomic to use it in products. The aroma of jasmine is described as calming and soothing without being soporific. As an herbal medicine, it is used in

dermatology Dermatology is the branch of medicine dealing with the skin.''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.'' Random House, Inc. 2001. Page 537. . It is a speciality with both medical and surgical aspects. A dermatologist is a specialist medica ...

as either an antiseptic or anti-inflammatory agent. ''Jasminum officinale'' var. ''grandiflorum'' is a folk medicine used for the treatment of hepatitis in south of China. It has shown anti-viral activity in vitro. The effect of an aqueous extract of fresh floral buds of ''Jasminum officinale'' var. ''grandiflorum'' Linn. has been studied on female fertility in rats. The extract produced a significant decrease in serum progesterone levels.

Safety

This oil can cause irritation in some people if used too frequently or in high concentrations. A major component of jasmine is benzyl acetate (~25%) which is known to be absorbed through the skin and known to be an allergic sensitizer. Those who show allergies to spicy food, perfumes and cosmetics are most likely to react. However, the power of the scent is such that only tiny amounts are required. Jasmine is also an

emmenagogue Emmenagogues (also spelled ''emmenagogs'') are herbs which stimulate blood flow in the pelvic area and uterus The uterus (from Latin ''uterus'', plural ''uteri'') or womb () is the organ in the reproductive system of most female mammals, in ...

and therefore should not be used during pregnancy.P. Joy and D.P. Raja. "Antibacterial activity studies of ''Jasminum grandiflorum'' and ''Jasminum sambac''." ''Ethnobotanical Leaflets'' 12: 481–483. 2008. http://opensiuc.lib.siu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1094&context=ebl

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q515610 officinale Flora of Western Asia Flora of the Indian subcontinent Flora of Tajikistan Flora of Tibet Flora of Guizhou Flora of Sichuan Flora of Yunnan Plants described in 1753 Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus National symbols of Pakistan Dermatologic drugs Medicinal plants of Asia Garden plants of Asia