Night-blooming jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum)
Description
Cestrum nocturnum (common names include night-blooming jessamine, night-blooming jasmine, night-blooming cestrum, and raatrani), is a species of Cestrum in the plant family Solanaceae (the potato family). It is native to the West Indies, but naturalized in South Asia . Cestrum nocturnum is an evergreen woody shrub growing to 4 m (13 ft) tall. The leaves are simple, narrow lanceolate, 6–20 cm (2.4–7.9 in) long and 2–4.5 cm (0.79–1.77 in) broad, smooth and glossy, with an entire margin. The flowers are greenish-white, with a slender tubular corolla 2–2.5 cm (0.79–0.98 in) long with five acute lobes, 10–13 mm (0.39–0.51 in) diameter when open at night, and are produced in cymose inflorescences. A powerful, sweet perfume is released at night. The fruit is a berry 10 millimetres (0.39 in) long by 5 mm (0.20 in) diameter, either marfil white or the color of an aubergine. There is also a variety with yellowish flowers. There are mixed reports regarding the toxicity of foliage and fruit. Cestrum nocturnum is grown in subtropical regions as an ornamental plant for its flowers that are heavily perfumed at night. It grows best in average to moist soil that is light and sandy, with a neutral pH of 6.6 to 7.5, and is hardy to hardiness zone 8. C. nocturnum can be fertilized biweekly with a weak dilution of seaweed and fish emulsion fertilizer.
Taxonomic tree
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Domain: Eukarya
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Kingdom: Plantae
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Phylum: Magnoliophyta
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Class: Magnoliopsida
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Order: Solanales
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Family: Solanaceae
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Genus: Cestrum
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