Flora of New Zealand Series

Erect shrubs, scramblers or lianes, usually evergreen. Shoots generally angled and green. Lvs generally opposite, sometimes alternate, imparipinnate or simple; leaflets entire. Fls usually in terminal or axillary, bracteate cymes, sometimes solitary, ⚥, often fragrant. Calyx 4-9-lobed, campanulate or funnelform, often minute. Corolla 4-9-lobed, convolute in bud, usually salverform with a narrow-cylindric tube, generally white, sometimes yellow, pink or red. Stamens 2, included, epipetalous; filaments short. Style short or long; stigma ± 2-lobed. Fr. a 2-lobed berry, usually black, each carpel with 1-2 seeds.

c. 300 spp., mostly Old World tropics and subtropics. Naturalised spp. 5.

With the exception of the rarely cultivated J. beesianum, all Jasminum spp. grown outside in N.Z. have compound lvs; simple lvs are often found in tropical spp.

Fig. 91. Fls of Jasminum. A J. officinale; B J. polyanthum. © All rights reserved. [Image: 4X6K]