Facts About The Real Star Jasmine That You Really Don’t Know!
How would you feel if you get to know that the Star Jasmine plant in your backyard which you bought from the local plant store isn’t really Star Jasmine?
Shocking! But that’s a fact.
In this article, I would like to unblock the most widely accepted misconception on YouTube regarding the Star Jasmine plant. To be honest, it’s been a few days since I had been doing my homework on the Star Jasmine plant, gathering all its facts and inappropriate information shared on YouTube and other internet sources as well.
Mainly, what I found is that many of my fellow gardening friends fail to recognize the true star jasmine plant, and for sure it’s not their mistake, because the information about this plant on the web is just so limited. In fact, in India, many plant nursery owners themselves don’t know the actual names of various plants they are selling, and I am not against those hard-working plant store guys.
I heard somewhere that “Little Knowledge is a dangerous thing” and the misconception about the Star Jasmine plant fits in so well with this saying.
My main motive behind writing this story is just to create awareness about the real star jasmine to all my fellow garden community and show its real beauty to everyone.
The picture above shows Downy Jasmine whose scientific name is Jasminum Multiflorum and it belongs to the family of Oleaceae. Basically, Downy Jasmine and Star jasmine are alike-looking sisters, but with different characters. These Downy Jasmine flowers have no real fragrance in them like the flowers of star jasmine have.
So, How do we differentiate between Star Jasmine and Downy Jasmine?
There are various ways by which refrain from getting confused between Star Jasmine and Downy Jasmine.
· If we look at the color of the leaves of star jasmine, they are quite dark green whereas the Downy Jasmine’s leaves are a bit lighter green- like parrot green color.
· The other main thing from which you could identify whether your Star Jasmine is real or not is by tearing off its leaf from the center. If the leaf or its branch excretes white milky sap then that’s definitely a Star Jasmine plant and you are good to go, else it is the duplicate of the plant.
· If we consider the flowers, Star Jasmine bears five-petalled flower whereas the flowers of Downy Jasmine has 8 petals.
· Also, if we look at the bloom buds of the Downy Jasmine, they are pinkish in color, but the bloom buds of real Star Jasmine are white in color.
Before ending up this article, I would like to share one more thing that the milky sap secreted by the branches and leaves of the Star Jasmine plant is somewhat toxic, so it is advisable to wash your hands properly if you are handling this plant.
Well, next time you want to bring a Star Jasmine plant to your home, kindly keep all these points in your mind. I am damn sure that next time you go out to buy a star jasmine plant, you’ll never be deceived by its alike-looking sister- Downy Jasmine.
