Appearance
"Jasminum sambac" is an evergreen vine or shrub reaching up to 0.5 to 3 m tall. The species is highly variable, possibly a result of spontaneous mutation, natural hybridization, and autopolyploidy. Only a few varieties reproduce by seed in the wild. Cultivated "Jasminum sambac" generally do not bear seeds and the plant is reproduced solely by cuttings, layering, marcotting, and other methods of asexual propagation.The leaves are ovate, 4 to 12.5 cm long and 2 to 7.5 cm wide. The phyllotaxy is opposite or in whorls of three, simple. They are smooth except for a few hairs at the venation on the base of the leaf.
The flowers bloom all throughout the year and are produced in clusters of 3 to 12 together at the ends of branches. They are strongly scented, with a white corolla 2 to 3 cm in diameter with 5 to 9 lobes. The flowers open at night, and close in the morning, a span of 12 to 20 hours. The fruit is a purple to black berry 1 cm in diameter.
Distribution
It is naturalized in many scattered locales: Mauritius, Madagascar, the Maldives, Cambodia, Java, Christmas Island, Chiapas, Central America, southern Florida, the Bahamas, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and the Lesser Antilles.References:
Some text fragments are auto parsed from Wikipedia.
