Common jasmine

Jasmine’s white, intensely fragrant flowers are woven into garlands for weddings and festivals – it is Pakistan’s national flower.

A climber or shrub with long, green, slender shoots that climb several metres high when given support. The leaves are odd-pinnate, made up of 5–9 leaflets. From spring to autumn it produces loose clusters of white, five-petalled flowers with a tubular corolla and a very strong, sweet scent that is most intense in the evening. It grows wild in scrub on the slopes of the Himalayas and Hindu Kush, but is most often seen in gardens. Jasmine oil is one of the most precious raw materials in perfumery.

Significance in the country

Jasmine is Pakistan’s national flower; its blossoms are made into “gajra” bracelets and garlands worn by women at weddings and on Eid, and laid on graves and at Sufi shrines.

Where it grows

Grown in gardens and courtyards throughout the country, especially in the towns of Punjab and Sindh; grows wild in scrub on the lower slopes of the northern mountains.

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