Jasminum sambac

Jasminum sambac (L.) Aiton, Hort. Kew. 1:8. 1789; Clarke in Hook. f., Fl. Brit. India 3: 591. 1882; Parker, For. Fl. Punj. ed. 1: 318. 1918 (Reprint 1973); Fl. China @ eFloras.org 15: 318; Fl. Pak. @ eFloras.org p. 20; Nyctanthes sambac L., Sp. Pl. 1: 6. 1753.

Shrubs, erect or scandent, up to 3 m. Branchlets terete or slightly compressed, sparsely or densely pubescent. Leaves opposite, simple; petiole 2-6 mm, pubescent; leaf blades 4-13.5 cm x 2-7.5 cm, papery, puberulent to pubescent when young, but glabrous when mature, except for tufted hairs at vein axils abaxially, elliptic, broad-elliptic, ovate, obovate to suborbicular, base attenuate, cuneate, sometimes subcordate, margin entire, wavy, apex acute, shortly acuminate, mucronate, primary veins 4-6 on each side of midvein. Cymes terminal, 1 or 3 or 5-flowered; bracts ca. 10 mm long, linear, subulate, hairy. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic, hypogynous, very fragrant, white; pedicels 0.3-2 cm long. Calyx up to 17 mm long, glabrous or sparsely pubescent; tube ca. 4 mm long; lobes 6-10, linear, subulate, 8-13 mm long, pubescent. Corolla white, double, very fragrant; tube 0.7-1.5 cm long; lobes many, up to 3 cm long, 5-9 mm broad, oblong to suborbicular, mucronate. Stamens 2, included, inserted in corolla tube near the throat; filaments ca. 1.5 mm long; anthers 5-6 mm long, oblong, apiculate. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary bilocular, one ovule per loculus; style short, slender; stigma bilobed, lobes unequal, linear.

Fruit a berry, simple or didymous, globose, 6-10 mm in diameter; surrounded by sub erect, subulate calyx teeth. (Fruits not observed)

Flowering and Fruiting: May to June
Common Names: Arabian Jasmine, Sambac Jasmine; Bela, Motiya, Mogra, Madan Mogra (Hindi)