Night Jessamine

D’ Arcy (in Ann. Miss. Bot. Gard. 60: 607. 1974) states the type as: Hort. Cliff. (BM, not seen) and has been followed by Symon (in J. Adelaide Bot. Gard. 3:140. 1981). According to Jarvis (BM), there is no specimen in the Clifford Herbarium, and the only extant syntype appears to be 258/1 at LINN.

A scandent shrub up to 4.0 m tall, sometimes assuming a tree-like proportion. glabrous. Leaves 5-10 x 3-5 cm, elliptic-ovate, cuneiform, acute. Petiole 8-12 mm long. Flowers in axillary or terminal panicles, greenish-yellow. Corolla tube narrow tubular, lobes ovate-acute. Berry ± ovoid, white.

Shrubs erect or sprawling, 1-3 m tall; young growth puberulent, glabrescent. Branches slender. Petiole 0.8-2 cm; leaf blade oblong-ovate or oblong-lanceolate, 6-15 × 2-4.5 cm, entire. Inflorescences drooping, many-flowered, axillary or terminal racemose panicles, 7-10 cm. Flowers strongly night scented. Pedicel 1-5 mm. Calyx campanulate, 2-3 × 1-1.5 mm; lobes deltoid, 0.5-0.8 mm. Corolla greenish or whitish yellow, 1.5-2.5 cm, tube slightly contracted at throat, lobes 3-4 mm. Filaments with dentate appendages, usually puberulent at point of insertion. Ovary ca. l mm. Berry white, juicy, oblong or globose, 6-10 × 4-10 mm. Seeds 1-5, ellipsoid, 3.5-4.5 mm.

West Indies and C. America, cultivated for ornament elsewhere.

900-1500 m

Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan [native to America, widely cultivated for ornament in tropical regions].