A Plant a Day: Jasmine (Jasminum sambac)
Your daily plant guide — exploring jasmine's common names, morphological characteristics, and growing environment.
Jasmine is an upright or climbing shrub belonging to the genus Jasminum within the Oleaceae family.
01 Common Names
Jasmine, Xianghun (Fragrant Soul), and various historical Chinese transliterations such as Moli, Moli-hua, and Muli-hua.
02 Morphological Characteristics
Jasmine can reach up to 3 meters in height. Its young branches are cylindrical or slightly flattened, sometimes hollow, and sparsely covered with fine downy hairs. The leaves are opposite and simple, with a paper-like texture. They vary in shape from circular and elliptical to ovate-elliptical or obovate. The leaf tips and bases are rounded or blunt, with the base sometimes being slightly heart-shaped. There are 4–6 pairs of lateral veins that are slightly sunken on the upper surface and prominent on the underside. The fine veins are usually distinct on both sides. The leaves are generally smooth, except for occasional tufts of hair in the vein axils underneath. The petioles (leaf stalks) are relatively long, downy, and jointed.
The flowers are extremely fragrant and grow in terminal cymes (flat-topped clusters), usually in groups of three, though they can appear singly or in clusters of up to five. The flower stalks are covered in fine hairs, and the bracts are tiny and cone-shaped. The calyx is either hairless or sparsely downy with linear lobes. The corolla is white, with lobes ranging from oblong to nearly circular and rounded or blunt at the tips. The fruit is a spherical berry, about 1 cm in diameter, turning purplish-black or dark brown when ripe. Jasmine typically blooms from May to August, with the fruiting period occurring between July and September.
03 Growth Environment
Jasmine can be propagated via seeds or cuttings. It is native to India and other parts of the Arabian Peninsula but is now widely cultivated in subtropical regions. It is primarily found in countries along the Mediterranean coast, as well as in Chinese provinces such as Fujian and Jiangsu, and cities like Hengzhou in Guangxi.
Jasmine prefers a warm and humid climate. It is highly sensitive to cold, drought, frost, waterlogging, and alkaline soil, thriving instead in well-ventilated, partially shaded locations with slightly acidic, humus-rich sandy soil. With proper care, jasmine can bloom repeatedly throughout the growing season, filling gardens and homes with its signature fragrance.
