YASMIN is the name in Persian for a flowering plant, and from which the name Jasmine derives. The pronunciation of Yasmin is often parallel with the English Jasmine, but in Persian, Arabic and Turkish the "s" is not taken as as "z", and so is often pronounced as jaesmin/. (That is not exactly right as I don't have the correct characters on my keyboard to show it properly).
JASMINE (taxonomic name Jasminum) is a genus of shrubs or vines in the olive family (Oleaceae). It contains around 200 species native to tropical and warm temperate regions of Eurasia, Australasia 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".)
Jasmines can be either deciduous or evergreen and can be erect, spreading or climbing shrubs and vines. Their leaves are borne opposite or alternate. The flowers are white or yellow in colour, although in rare instances they can be slightly reddish.
Jasmine tea is consumed in China where it is called jasmine-flower tea. It takes four hours or so for the tea to absorb the fragrance and flavour of the jasmine blossoms, and for the highest grades, this process may be repeated as many as seven times. It must be refired to prevent spoilage. The spent flowers may or not be removed from the final products, as the flowers are completely dry and contain no aroma. Giant fans are used to blow away and remove the petals from the denser tea leaves.
In Okinawa, Japan, jasmine tea is known as sanpin cha.
My daughter has a jasmine vine and the perfume is almost overpowering and it is so pretty. We have jasmine as well but there is no perfume and I am wondering if perhaps is one the other plants called jasmine. Ours is attacked nearly every year by some type of bug that almost completely strips the plant of leaves. We are gradually getting rid of it from the garden.
Hari OM
ReplyDeleteI love jasmine - by any name! with "Y" I would have been tempted just to go for 'Y'ellow flowers.... I adore the colour and all the flowers which come in it!!! YAM xx
Yellow is my favourite colour Yam; it is a colour that brightens my day when I see it.
DeleteI thought using this Y was cheating enough and there are so many yellow flowers my list would have been endless. xx
I love it, but its scent can be overpowering.
ReplyDeleteWe had a white one, which himself had difficulties with (scent tooooo strong) and have a scentless yellow one in the back yard.
I think K has problems with the one in their back garden but, as said, ours have no perfume.
DeleteDo you find your jasmine are attacked by a creature that eats the leaves? "It" practically shreds the leaves on ours.
A beautiful flower and so fragrant (I've never had a plant that wasn't aromatic)...:)JP
ReplyDeleteAlthough ours is called a jasmine, maybe it's only a copy as it has no scent whatsoever although the flower is similar to a proper jasmine. :)
ReplyDeleteI don't know how I missed this last Thursday. I love the look of Jasmine and have grown Star Jasmine in several homes, but I can't be anywhere near the strong, heady scent of the pink tinged jasmine which I can't remember the official name of. That's probably the one your K has.
ReplyDelete