This pretty little flower is about the size of a thumbnail but emits a delightful fragrance that can be detected yards away. It’s supposedly a vine although admittedly mine’s more like a big bush or a small tree that’s at least 10 feet tall. When in bloom my green bush-tree is dotted white from top to bottom. When the flowers shed the ground is covered in soft white petals until the wind blows away one of nature’s small but delightful gifts.
Jasmine azoricum (or azores) is one out of the 200 different species of jasmine (or jasminum) which belong to the olive family. They are native to the warm and temperate regions of the Old World. The flower only opens at night when the temperature is lower and hence its fragrance is more intense.
Jasmine is popular in home gardens, the flowers are worn in the hair by women in southern and southeast Asia; jasmine tisane is made into tea by the Chinese, the French use jasmine to make jasmine syrup and the Americans use the syrup to make jasmine scones. In Egypt, China and Morocco the flowers are used to make essential oils.
Steeped Jasmine Oil
Here’s an interesting must-try from Yahoo Answers on how to make steeped jasmine oil for aromatherapy. (The concentrate for essential oil requires at least a ton of jasmine flowers).
Get a jar of oil (jojoba, almond or any other) and put the flowers in to steep for a month or more. The longer it steeps the more the oil will smell of jasmine after it’s strained.
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