Jasminum officinale L.

Shrubs scandent, 0.4-5 m. Branchlets angular or grooved, glabrous, sparsely pubescent, or appressed hairy. Leaves opposite, pinnatipartite or pinnately compound, often simple at base of branchlets; petiole 0.4-4 cm, glabrous or appressed hairy; leaflets 3-9, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with appressed hairs; terminal leaflet ovate to narrowly elliptic, 0.5-4.5 × 0.2-2 cm, base cuneate, apex acute or acuminate, rarely obtuse; lateral ones ovate to elliptic or suborbicular, 0.3-3 cm × 2-13 mm, base rounded or cuneate, apex acute or obtuse. Cymes umbellate or subumbellate, terminal or rarely axillary, 1-10-flowered; bracts linear, 1-10 mm. Flowers heterostylous. Pedicel 0.4-2.5 cm. Calyx cupular, 1-3 mm, glabrous or sparsely pubescent with appressed hairs; lobes subulate-linear, (3-)5-10 mm. Corolla white, sometimes red outside; tube 1-1.5(-2) cm; lobes 5, narrowly ovate to oblong, 6-12 mm. Berry ripening dark red, becoming purple, globose or ellipsoid, 7-10 × 5-9 mm.

Shrubberies and forests, usually on humus-rich soils, 1200-3000 metres in the Himalayas. Valleys, ravines, thickets, woods, along rivers, meadows; 1800-4000 metres in W. China.

The flowers are eaten. They are also used for flavour or scent tea. They produce an essential oil that gives a bittersweet flavour to baked goods, ice cream, candy and chewing gum.

Plants can be grown by semi-ripe cuttings.