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{{Short description|Species of shrub}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Jasminum_officinale_-_Bot._Mag._31,_1787.jpg
| image_caption = Botanical illustration
| genus = Jasminum
| species = officinale
| authority = [[Carl Linnaeus|L.]]
| range_map =
}}
[[File:Common Jasmine.jpg|thumb]]
[[File:Jasminum officinale.JPG|right|thumb]]
[[Image:Coat of arms of Pakistan.svg|right|thumb|150px|Floral wreath of jasmine representing the shield of Pakistan]]

'''''Jasminum officinale''''', known as the '''common jasmine''' or simply '''jasmine''', is a species of [[flowering plant]] in the olive [[family (biology)|family]] Oleaceae. It is native to the Caucasus and parts of Asia, also widely naturalized.

It is also known as '''summer jasmine''',<ref name=BSBI07>{{BSBI 2007 |access-date=2014-10-17 }}</ref> '''poet's jasmine''',<ref name=GRIN>{{GRIN | access-date=2 December 2014}}</ref> '''white jasmine''',<ref name=GRIN/> '''true jasmine''' or '''jessamine''',<ref name=GRIN/> and is particularly valued by gardeners throughout the [[temperateness|temperate]] world for the intense fragrance of its flowers in summer. It is also the [[National flower]] of [[Pakistan]].

==Description==
''Jasminum officinale'' is a vigorous, twining [[deciduous]] [[vine|climber]] with sharply pointed [[pinnate]] leaves and clusters of starry, pure white flowers in summer, which are the source of its heady scent.<ref name=RHSAZ /> The leaf has 5 to 9 leaflets.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Jasminum officinale - Plant Finder|url=https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?kempercode=b559|access-date=2021-10-05|website=www.missouribotanicalgarden.org}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The Latin [[binomial nomenclature|specific epithet]] ''officinale'' means "useful".<ref name=RHSLG>{{cite book | last=Harrison |first=Lorraine | title=RHS Latin for Gardeners | year=2012 |publisher=Mitchell Beazley | location=United Kingdom | isbn=978-1845337315 }}</ref>

==Distribution==
It is found in the Caucasus, northern Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Himalayas, Tajikistan, India, Nepal and western China ([[Guizhou]], [[Sichuan]], [[Xizang]] (Tibet), [[Yunnan]]). 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.<ref name=RHSAZ>{{cite book|title=RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants|year=2008|publisher=Dorling Kindersley|location=United Kingdom|isbn=978-1405332965|pages=1136}}</ref>

==Chemical composition==
''J. officinale'' has been found to contain [[alkaloid]]s, [[coumarin]]s, [[flavonoid]]s, [[tannin]]s, [[terpenoid]]s, [[glycoside]]s, emodine, [[leucoanthocyanin]]s, [[steroid]]s, [[anthocyanin]]s, phlobatinins, [[essential oil]] and [[saponin]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/324521531 |doi=10.5281/zenodo.1214994|year=2018 |last1=Al-Snafi |first1=Ali Esmail |title=Pharmacology and Medicinal Properties of Jasminum Officinale- A Review |journal=Indo American Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences |volume=05 |issue=4 |pages=2191–2197 }}</ref>

==Garden history==
''Jasminum officinale'' is so ancient in cultivation that its country of origin, though somewhere in [[Central Asia]], is not certain.<ref>Alice M. Coats, ''Garden Shrubs and Their Histories'' (1964) 1992, ''s.v.'' "Jasminum".</ref> H.L. Li, ''The Garden Flowers of China'',<ref>Li, ''The Garden Flowers of China'', 1959, noted in Coats (1964) 1992.</ref> notes that in the third century CE, jasmines identifiable as ''J. officinale'' and ''[[Jasminum sambac|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.<ref>Coats (1964) 1992.</ref>

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".<ref>John Harvey, ''Mediaeval gardens'' (1981:48).</ref> In the mid-14th century the [[Florence|Florentine]] author [[Boccaccio]] in his ''[[Decameron]]'' 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."<ref>Boccaccio, ''Decameron'', third day.</ref> Jasmine water also features in the story of Salabaetto in the ''Decameron''.<ref>"They then took from the basket silver vases of great beauty, some of which were filled with rose water, some with orange water, some with jasmine water, and some with lemon water, which they sprinkled upon them".</ref> ''Jasminum officinale'', "of the household office" where perfumes were distilled, was so thoroughly naturalized that [[Carl Linnaeus|Linnaeus]] thought it was native to Switzerland.<ref>Noted in Coats (1964) 1992.</ref> As a garden plant in London it features in [[William Turner (naturalist)|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 [[variegation|variegated]] foliage. The cultivar 'Argenteovariegatum',<ref>{{cite web|title=RHS Plant Selector - ''Jasminum officinale'' 'Argenteovariegatum'|url=https://www.rhs.org.uk/Plants/48266/Jasminum-officinale-Argenteovariegatum-(v)/Details|publisher=Royal Horticultural Society|access-date=25 September 2020}}</ref> with cream-white [[variegation]] on the leaves, has gained the [[Royal Horticultural Society]]'s [[Award of Garden Merit]].<ref>{{cite web | url= https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/pdfs/agm-lists/agm-ornamentals.pdf | title = AGM Plants - Ornamental | date = July 2017 | page = 56 | publisher = Royal Horticultural Society | access-date = 14 March 2018}}</ref>

==Aromatherapy==
[[File:JasmineAbsolute.png|thumb|180px|Essential oil]]
The [[essential oil]] of ''Jasminum officinale'' is used in [[aromatherapy]]. Jasmine ''absolute'' has a heavy, sweet scent valued by perfumers. The flowers release their perfume at dusk, so flowers are picked at night and a tiny amount of oil is obtained from each blossom by solvent extraction. The result is an expensive oil which can be used in low concentrations.{{cn|date=May 2023}}

==Safety==
Jasmine is "[[generally recognized as safe]]" (GRAS) as a food ingredient by the U.S. [[Food and Drug Administration]].<ref name="lactmed">{{cite web |title=Jasmine |url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK501843/ |publisher=LactMed, US National Library of Medicine |access-date=24 May 2023 |date=17 May 2021}}</ref>

It is unknown whether jasmine consumption affects breastmilk, as the safety and efficacy of jasmine in nursing mothers or infants has not been adequately studied.<ref name=lactmed/> Drinking small amounts of jasmine tea likely are not harmful during nursing.<ref name=lactmed/>

[[Allergic reaction]]s to jasmine may occur.<ref name=lactmed/>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

{{National symbols of Pakistan}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q515610}}

[[Category:Jasminum|officinale]]
[[Category:Flora of Western Asia]]
[[Category:Flora of the Indian subcontinent]]
[[Category:Flora of Tajikistan]]
[[Category:Flora of Tibet]]
[[Category:Flora of Guizhou]]
[[Category:Flora of Sichuan]]
[[Category:Flora of Yunnan]]
[[Category:Plants described in 1753]]
[[Category:Botanical taxa named by Carl Linnaeus]]
[[Category:National symbols of Pakistan]]
[[Category:Dermatologic drugs]]
[[Category:Medicinal plants of Asia]]
[[Category:Garden plants of Asia]]

Jasminum officinale - Revision history

CleanupBot at 04:29, 22 March 2026