Jasminum multiflorum (Burm.f.) Andr.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Oleaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Species Description - Climbing shrub 2-5(-10) m long; stems slender, divaricate, tomentose. Leaves opposite, simple; blades 3-7 x 2-3.5 cm, ovate, abaxially tomentose, especially on veins, the apex acute, the base subtruncate to cordate, the margins entire; petioles densely tomentose, 6-12 mm long. Flowers fragrant and showy, clustered in short, axillary cymes; the axes densely tomentose; peduncle ca. 4 mm long, subtended by 2 small, green, ovate, densely tomentose bracts; pedicels 0-3 cm long, each one subtended by an ovate, densely tomentose bracteole. Calyx green, funnelform, about 1 cm long, densely tomentose, dissected into numerous linear, narrow, elongate, erect lobes; corolla white, salverform, about 2 cm long, 4-9-lobed, the lobes narrowly oblong with sharply acute or acuminate tips; stamens 2, the filaments with an apiculate connective extending beyond the anthers, the anthers elongate, the anther lobe apices blunt; ovary 4-lobed, the style borne on raised swollen tissue, the stigma elongate and 2-lobed. Fruit not observed on St. John population, but ovoid, 5-7 mm long, in specimens collected in Asia.
Distribution and Ecology - A naturalized species, occasional in open, disturbed sites. Road to Bordeaux (A4672), Maho Bay Quarter along Center Line Road (A3854). Native to Asia but widely cultivated throughout the tropics.
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Discussion
Nyctanthes pubescens Retz., Observ. Bot. 5: 9. 1788. Jasminum pubescens (Retz.) Willd., Sp. P L 1: 37. 1797.
Common names: hairy jasmine, star jessamine.