Angiosperms (Flowering Plants) • Earth.com

Gold Coast jasmine

(Jasminum nepalense)

galery
en

Description

Jasminium dichotomum, the Gold Coast jasmine, is a species of jasmine, in the family Oleaceae. It is an evergreen climber which grows as a rambling shrub or woody vine. The flowers are quite fragrant and open at night, coloured pink when budding then white; these appear at the leaf axils in cluster. It blooms year round. The leaves are opposite. The fleshy fruit is small. Jasminium dichotomum is native to tropical western and central Africa from Senegal east to Kenya and Ethiopia, south to Mozambique and Zambia, but it has been introduced to other regions and is reportedly naturalized in Florida and India. In Florida, this plant is an invasive weed; introduced as an ornamental plant in the 1920. Spreading from gardens in the 1970s, in areas with soil disturbance, the species began occupying hammocks and forests. Its vining habit can be trimmed in a dense shrub. Glossy leaves are very ornamental in contrast with dark pink buds and snow white flowers. Jasmine (taxonomic name: Jasminum) is a genus of shrubs and vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Africa, and Oceania. Jasmines are widely cultivated for the characteristic fragrance of their flowers. A number of unrelated plants contain the word "jasmine" in their common names (see Other plants called "jasmine"). Jasmine can be either deciduous (leaves falling in autumn) or evergreen (green all year round), and can be erect, spreading, or climbing shrubs and vines. Their leaves are borne in opposing or alternating arrangement and can be of simple, trifoliate, or pinnate formation. The flowers are typically around 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter. They are white or yellow, although in rare instances they can be slightly reddish. The flowers are borne in cymose clusters with a minimum of three flowers, though they can also be solitary on the ends of branchlets. Each flower has about four to nine petals, two locules, and one to four ovules. They have two stamens with very short filaments. The bracts are linear or ovate. The calyx is bell-shaped. They are usually very fragrant. The fruits of jasmines are berries that turn black when ripe. The basic chromosome number of the genus is 13, and most species are diploid (2n=26). However, natural polyploidy exists, particularly in Jasminum sambac (triploid 3n=39), Jasminum flexile (tetraploid 4n=52), Jasminum mesnyi (triploid 3n=39), and Jasminum angustifolium (tetraploid 4n=52).

Taxonomic tree:

Domain:
Kingdom: Plantae
Phylum: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order:Lamiales
Family:Oleaceae
Genus:Jasminum
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