Tuesday, June 16, 2009

#20. Jasmine in India


Jasminum rex




Jasminum rex




Jasminum sambac 'motia' मोतिया





मोतिया







Jasminum malabaricum , मुद गरा, रान मोगरा.







Wild Jasmine, J. augustifolium, wild jasmine. वन मल्लिका.





Jasminum sambac 'Japanese Rai' मोगरा.





J. sambac 'motia', मोतिया.





मोगरा





मोगरा





मोतिया





J. auriculatum जूही





Jasminum multiflorum कुंद






कुंद






J. grandiflorum. Spanish Chameli






Jasminum officinale चमेली






J. flexile. Sometimes known in Hindi as मालती or चमेली.






Echites caryophyllata. मालती.






J. humile, सोनजुही.





J. nudiflorum





J. odoratissimum






राज चमेली. angel wing jasmine






Japanes primrose

(Picture credit to self, Flowers of India and Wikipedia. Labels denote the flower above it. )




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JASMINES IN INDIA.
Various varieties of Jasmines are found in India, and matching their botanical names to prevalent Hindi names has always been a nightmare to me. Bose and Choudhury's book mentions the following Jasmines in the category of shrubs:
1. Jasminum humile.
सोनजुही. There are a few more yellow jasmine varieties like:
(i) J. odoratissimum
(ii) J. nudiflorum: Winter Jasmine
(iii) J. mesnyi: Japanese jasmine, Primrose jasmine. All of them are exotic varieties which have been iiiintrodced.
2. Jasminum pubescens and J. pubescens 'Rubescens' कुंद
It is also known as J. multiflorum. Kund finds wide mention in ancient literature. Good, white set of teeth were compared to kund. Variety Rubescens has petals which are white on the inside and pink on the outside.
3. J. nervosum: wild kund. जंगली कुंद. It is native to Manipur. Wild cousin of #2.
4. Jasminum sambac (Arabian jasmine).
बेला
Various varieties are grown in In India:
(a). Japapnese sambac 'Rai' and 'Japanese Rai'
मोगरा. The two varieties differ in the size of the flower. Both have compact buds and flowers.
(b). J. sambac 'motia'
मोतिया. One of the most popular flowers of North India during the summer months। The flowers are used for garlands as well as for ladies’ hair. Lovely fragrance.

It is presumed that all these varieties are native to India.

In the category of climbers they have mentioned a larger number. Some more I have added. The contribution of Tabish to the list is acknowledged.

*1. Jasminum augustifolium: Wild jasmine.
वन मल्लिका
*2. J. sessiliflorum: Similar to J. augustifolium. Smaller leaves as compared to above.
*3. J. auriculatum
जूही. Hindi poets are very fond of this flower.
4. J.flexile: मालती, चमेली.
5. J. grandiflorum (Spanish Jasmine): Grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions, preferably in mild climate, for perfumery industry. It is similar to J. officinale.
*6. Jasminum officinale (white jasmine)
चमेली, यास्मीन. Native of Persia, China and North India. True jasmine. It is the national flower of Pakistan (Yasmin), as well as of Philippines (Sampaguita) and Indonesia (Melati).
*7. J. trinerve
*8. J. undulatum
9. J. nitidum: Angelwing jasmine. Royal jasmine. Introduced. Native to Papua New Guinea.
10. J. fluminense: River jasmine, Brazilian jasmine. Introduced. Woody vine.
*11. J. arboriscens: Tree jasmine. नाग मल्लि। Large, usually erect but sometimes climbing shrub. Various parts of the plant used for medicinal purposes.

All the varieties with asterisk are native. J. sambac is also named as Arabic Jasmine, so it could have been initially brought from Arabia, although it has been naturalised centuries ago. It may be noted that the concept and design of formal gardens have been brought to India by Mughals only.
There are reportedly 200 species of Jasmine which are native to tropical and warm climate of the old world. However, several varieties have duplicate names and in truth there seems to about 90 original varieties.

Another flower which is often considered Jasmine is Echites caryophyllata
मालती, a large woody climber which flowers profusely in the late summer and rains. It is a native of Florida, Mexico and West Indies.
For some varieties I have not mentioned the Hindi equivalent. I don't know them. I would request the members and readers for any help in this matter. Also any suggestions for improvement and correction are welcome.
Added on 8 April 2011.
Recently I came across another variety of Jamine in my favourite site 'indiantreepix'. This is Jasminum rex, a native of Thailand. The present photographs were taken by Aarti Khale at Kandy (Srilanka). (Pictures are at the top).

11 comments:

Unknown said...

I guess its better to keep the name on the top of the photo. Thats the standard followed in case photos are published in a list.
Also, as some of the photos are missing the name, it gets confusing by the time I reach the end of the list.
I am still not sure about jasminum classicale and grandiflorum:), that is, which one is which..

Unknown said...

Sorry I had meant Jasminum officinale and grandiflorum. I guess the pink one is grandiflorum - also known as Jaati Malli in tamil. In hindi of course, almost every creeper jasmine is chameli.

Anand Kumar Bhatt said...

Noted for future. At the bottom I have explained that the label is for the flower on top of it.
After Juhi and 2 photos of Kund, there is J. grandiflorum (Spanish chameli). This is followeed by J. officinale, the true chameli. Both are very similar. It is J. grandiflorum which is used by the perfumery industry.
Many a time Spanish chameli is being sold by the nurseries as Chameli. To tell you the truth, it has become more common now in our country.
Thank yu Malu for reading and commenting on the blog.

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Urban Green said...

wow! it's a beautiful and informative post...

Anand Kumar Bhatt said...

Thank you Urban Green for your coments. Sometimes when I write and upload a blog, I wonder how many people would read it at all. Seeing comments on this blog I am happy that some people at least the cognoscenti do see it.
As you have seen the blog today, I can only say that I will keep on writing blogs, though I admit that the frequency is a little less now. I will be away for about 10 days from coming Sunday, and again there would be a gap.
I am really flattered by your comments.
akbhatt

Unknown said...

Very beautifully presented; also rare on the web to have this information with botanical names and images. I missed the madhumalati, Quisqualis indica Combretaceae, with its lush and fragrant night-blooming flowers that change colour from white to pink to deeper shades through the day. Also, the krishnakamal, Passiflora ligularis Passifloraceae, a beautiful fragrant creeper.
Btw, i don't know why, but this reminds me your blog: http://avyakta.caltech.edu:8080/. Many similarities, including the passion for flowering trees.

APS said...

Sir,
I have collected a wild variety of jasmine from jungles of Sambalpur (Orissa). I will soon post its photograph for identification. It is a creeper with fragrant flowers having single layer petals.

apsatpathy@gmail.com

Anand Kumar Bhatt said...

Dr. Amodini, thanks for mentioning the two flowers: madhumalati and passion flower. Madhumalati is favourite of my wife, we have a creeper at home and it gives out beautiful fragrance, mild and sweet, and yes it does change colour as you mentioned.. I dont have a creeper of passiflora at my tiny garden. It is also known as kaurav-pandav! I will see the blogsite you have mentioned.
thanks again.
ak

Anand Kumar Bhatt said...

Anshuji: I am waiting for the day you will upload your photographs. Put it on flickr or on indiantreepix. However, indiantreepix wants a size of not more than 150 so you have to go to photoshop (a software) if you have larger photographs. Picasa or facebook are also alternatives, though I hardly get time to see them .
Best wishes,
ak

Unknown said...

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Regards
Shekhar