SPANISH JASMINE

Jasminum grandiflorum, also known variously as the Spanish jasmine, Royal jasmine, Catalan jasmine, Sicilian jasmine, Greek jasmine, is a species of jasmine native to South Asia, the Arabian peninsula, East and Northeast Africa and the Yunnan and Sichuan regions of China. The species is widely cultivated and is reportedly naturalised in Guinea, the Maldive Islands, Mauritius, Réunion, Java, the Cook Islands, Chiapas, Central America, and the Caribbean. It is closely related to, and sometimes treated as merely a form of, Jasminum officinale.

Jasmine has been made into a well-known scent around the world. It was introduced as a perfume in Europe in the 16th century. The flowers create an aroma that exudes a calm atmosphere, relieving mental and emotional strains. Due to the pleasing scent, J. grandiflorum are commonly made into essential oils, perfumes, soaps, and cosmetics worldwide.

Here it is seen growing in our garden, where it forms a luxuriant climbing shrub, flowering profusely in Summer and whose delicious perfume is intense during the evening. In the Summer afternoons, my grandmother used to pick the burgeoning buds of this flower and thread them with a needle, forming the festoon you see below, which was brought indoors. As the flowers opened later that evening, the perfume filled the house.

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme